The City of Castlegar was recognized with several honours at the National Communities in Bloom (CIB) award ceremony last week.
Castlegar won the Butchart Gardens Land Reclamation Award for the Millennium Ponds. The project took an otherwise under-utilized portion of riverbank and turned it into a well-used swimming and recreation area.
The city also took second place in the Grand Champions category — a category where past winners of Population, International Challenge and Class of Champions compete amongst themselves. Unlike the other categories, Grand Champion is not separated by population size.
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The hard work of local volunteers can be credited with raising the city’s bloom rating from Five Bloom – Bronze to Five Bloom – Silver.
“We are very pleased with our increase. It is quite an accomplishment,” said local CIB chair Darlene Kalawsky on her way home from the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia event. “We were competing at a very high level and the scoring was very close.”
Kalawsky also said the judges were very impressed with the number of volunteers and the projects Castlegar takes on for a community its size.
“We also work very closely with the City of Castlegar and that makes us a very outstanding Communities in Bloom community,” added Kalawsky.
The Communities in Bloom judges who visited Castlegar in July also made special note of the Columbia Avenue redevelopment project for its innovation and forward-thinking. It was judged as part of the environmental sustainability criteria.
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betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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