CIB in Taber entered its first provincial com- petition in 2004, giving several businesses thank you cards for keeping up their appear- ance to the
public.Taber CIB continued to learn from the provincial judging with tips on how to improve, getting now to a point where its has won three straight provincial titles in its town’s population category back in September 2018, getting a maximum of five blooms from to
judges.Communities in Bloom is thankful for the all efforts the Taber citizenry has done to have the town rise to provincial prominence,as Holman noted it is certainly not the organization who has done it alone. “It’s co-operation with the town and its citi-
zens have helped make every project a suc- cess. It doesn’t matter if we do it, or the town does it or a group does it,we get points from the
judges.The one year,we didn’t lift a finger for the skateboard park or later the spray park and we got points for it,”said Holman.“And I’ve noticed the last few years, the town has been extraordinarily
tidy.They are really work- ing on that.Our parks and recreation and public works do a good job.” The organization has been aided by many others in their upkeep including youth efforts,be it Taber Special Needs, Kid Zone, various schools and 4-H. CIB has had schools and various clubs over the years adopt a space like a park or an area downtown to do upkeep on. Today,Taber CIB has held yard and Christmas light competitions, applauding the various green thumbs within town limits and also those taken by the Christmas spirit, where now Confederation Park and plenty of town-owned land has Christmas lights on it. Big efforts or small,Communities in Bloom are simply encouraging people to take greater pride in their community through something as little as picking up a piece of garbage in an environmental initiative, all the way to major landscaping — every little bit helps. “It’s keeping your yards tidy, the back alley-
ways tidy.Tidy in general, be it downtown streets and businesses,” said Toshi Miyanaga, a member of Taber Communities In Bloom. “We get compliments all the time from peo- ple who return home for Cornfest and they can’t believe the change in Taber, being alive with flowers.” In 10 years,Taber Communities in Bloom members have grown from 10 to approxi- mately 22. See a beautiful area in Taber town limits, or just off the highway, and very likely, Communities in Bloom has helped with it or certainly raised the awareness of them like having a Pick of the Week yard that is showcased in the local newspaper. “We also started going to farmers mar- kets to promote
CIB.They give out one free table a week and they gave us three weeks,”said Holman of the farmer’s market that happens at the Taber Agri-Plex. Holman noted she is filled with pride when she sees the improve- ment Taber has made both environ- mentally and presentation wise in its clean ups.Having things like the town’s three-cart recycling system and organizations like Taber Community Futures offer- ing grants to businesses to improve the esthetics of their property has aided CIB. “When you have a nice-looking
town,more businesses will want to come here and be part of it. It’s not like a job for us, it’s just fun. It’s fun to dig into the dirt and improve the com- munity,”said Holman.
insight magazine march 2019 - 17
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