Communities in Bloom is an annual recognition and bloom award program for municipalities of all sizes. Since 1995 over 100 British Columbia communities have participated, enhancing their tidiness and green spaces through an evaluated set of criteria. Participants value the networking and civic pride that results. Find out your communities last evaluated year. The Novice program is a great way to build a new group of 'in Bloom' volunteers. Register early to win a pair of tickets to the provincial awards, registration closes March 31, 2018.

Find us at: https://twitter.com/CommunInBloomBC ​

Communities in Bloom participants from the past few years are encouraged to promote their Bloom rating with a customized 'Bloom Badge'. BC's Blooming Best Communities are:

Community spirit is alive and well in our Communities in Bloom participants. Whether they are starting at the novice level, working up to a 5-bloom rating or competing with other communities across Canada, these communities are excellent representatives of 'People, Plants and Pride...Growing Together'.

Scattered throughout British Columbia there are many excellent examples and they are not all located in typical tourist areas! CiB is a community enhancement program to inspire pride in one’s hometown; to celebrate uniqueness and galvanize residents to be part of the solution.
Assessing a community on its tidiness effort, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, floral displays and landscape areas with community involvement as the thread that runs through each criterion, is what makes this program valuable to our participants. Having the unique CiB criteria to follow creates a focus and deadline to affect real change.
Local committees will build a team of volunteers with varied backgrounds: landscape design professional, urban planner, master gardener, media, economic development, chamber of commerce or business owner, parks and recreation, public works, Mayor or Councillor all working together to help their community. It also provides recognition for local volunteers that go under the radar: garden clubs, trail groups, cemetery historians, or the local that picks up litter while walking his dog. Every community has champions that contribute to making their hometown better. The Communities in Bloom program provides a place to recognize these efforts.

There are three participation levels to the Communities in Bloom program: Provincial, National and International. At the provincial level: municipal participants are assessed against themselves to improve their bloom score through the annual evaluation. It may take 3 to 5 years to achieve 5-Blooms. Once a community has achieved this level, they may choose to enter the National CiB program to compete against other 5-Bloom communities of similar population size from across Canada. Some have gone onto International competition.
Each province has their own Provincial Edition and in 2005, BC Communities in Bloom (BC CiB) was formed as a society to support our volunteers who give their time as specialists in horticulture, parks and recreation, municipal management and community engagement. At the heart of our organization is our team of dedicated volunteers who bring a wealth of experience to our society as facilitators, board and committee members in addition to representing their geographical region.

Our provincial program (BC CiB) focuses on three main events:

• A spring training workshop to prepare new and returning facilitators and board members.
• In the summer (typically the third week in July), we coordinate the travel of multiple pairs of facilitators to various regions of the province to evaluate registered participants over a 24 to 48-hour period.
• In early fall, a CiB community hosts the Annual Provincial Awards and Conference weekend. This is an educational opportunity for all participants to network and culminates in the awards evening where the facilitators present the bloom certificates and reports.

Budgeting: Some communities have had luck with planning a multi-year municipal budget while others create a CiB or beautification society to spearhead their CiB fundraising efforts. The biggest challenge for any group is when there is only one sector driving the effort.
The CiB program works at its absolute best when it is a collaborative effort made up of a variety of key stakeholders.
After almost 20 years of Communities in Bloom in Canada, we are encouraged to see former 5-Bloom national participants registering back in the provincial program to engage a new group of volunteers in
People, Plants & Pride…Growing Together!

Celebrating CommUNITY Success across B.C.
Surrey - On Saturday October 1st, representatives from around the province celebrated their hometown’s achievements at this year’s British Columbia Communities in Bloom Awards event held in Hope, BC. Municipal participants were recognized in Evaluated and Non-evaluated categories.
Congratulations to our newest Five-Bloom community; Cache Creek, and repeat winners, Salmon Arm and Sooke who also received their Five-Bloom Street Banners.
Earlier in the day, conference delegates got to see why Hope is a wonderful example of the Communities in Bloom (CiB) program. The ‘Give a Hoot’ (celebrate the spirit of volunteerism) theme showcased key partners and many amazing community enhancing volunteer projects.
Our 13th annual event has marked another successful year. Congratulations to all our Communities in Bloom participants who are making this province better through “People, Plants and Pride…Growing Together”!

2016 award results are as follows:
5 BLOOMS               MENTION
Cache Creek             Floral Displays throughout the community
Salmon Arm              SASU Recreation Centre sustainable landscaping upgrade
Sooke                        Sunriver Community Gardens

4 BLOOMS
Lumby                       Winning Kraft Hockeyville
Fort St. John             Fort St. John North Peace Museum
Terrace                     Heritage Park Museum
Whitehorse, YT         Welcome Gateway Floral Design by a 10-yr old resident

3 BLOOMS
Bowen Island Municipality  Salmon Enhancement & Nature Classroom at BIRD

NOVICE                                                
Abbotsford                Professional Development of park employees
Sicamous                 The Boat Planters positioned around the town

NON-EVALUATED   Showcase Projects
Chetwynd                  Greenspace Trail-System and Community Forest
​                                  Wayfinding Strategies and
                                  New Municipal Centre and Landscaping
Hope                         2016 BC CiB Provincial Conference and Awards Host
Kelowna                    Project to come

COMMUNITY MEMBERS RECOGNIZED:
Burnaby, Castlegar, Coquitlam, Mission

CRITERIA AWARDS                SPONSORED BY                          WINNER                        PRESENTER

TIDINESS                                 Teck Resources Limited               LUMBY                         Kathy Reinheimer
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION    BC Communities in Bloom          FORT ST. JOHN           Bert Pulles
LANDSCAPED AREAS            Urban Systems                             WHITEHORSE, YT       Edward Stanford
FLORAL DISPLAYS                 BC Communities in Bloom          TERRACE                     Erin Minter
Special glass vase Criteria Awards were presented by our Gold Bloom Sponsors, whose financial support makes it possible for us to deliver the CiB program throughout the province.

COMMUNITY CHAMPION AWARD - BC Communities in Bloom Sponsored
Dave Gordon from Terrace, was awarded the BC CiB Community Champion Award in recognition for his ongoing work through the Greater Terrace Beautification Society and legacy projects like the Howe Creek Tree Park and the Dutch-Canadian Tulip Friendship Garden.

GOOD LUCK TO BC’S NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL FINALISTS
Results will be announced in Regina, Saskatchewan October 29, 2016
Evaluated: City of Coquitlam, Sun Rivers Resort Community
Class of Champions Evaluated: Village of Ashcroft, City of Castlegar, City of Trail
Circle of Excellence Non-Evaluated: City of Kamloops, West Kelowna & Westbank First Nations

​PHOTOS OF OUR EVENT ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

Come join us for a fun, inspirational Communities in Bloom weekend in Hope...and maybe find out what kind of fertilizers they use to grow the best bunch of Bloomin' Volunteers...! Download the registration form, to find out more about this cost effective event for all. Conference and accommodation details are also in this document.