Cache Creek Communities in Bloom chair Carmen Ranta presented Council with the committee’s 2012 CiB evaluation, its Community Profile booklet and the three-bloom certificate at the Oct. 22 Council meeting.
The Village missed receiving four blooms by one and a half percent, she told Council.
Ranta thanks Council for their support, both financially and for the assistance of staff and Public Works who worked hard to keep the town clean and tidy. They also assisted with answering questions when the judges were in town, and Public Works superintendent Deb Chanell toured with the judges, along with Ranta,while they were in Cache Creek.
Ranta summarized the evaluation for Council, noting that the Village received high marks for the Landscape and Floral Display categories and a special mention for the Gateway Park.
“Special mention for Gateway Park, a beautiful addition to your town,” wrote judges George Mitchell and Darlene Kalawsky, “and of course we cannot forget “Cariboo Sam.”
They also praised the Landfill, which was part of their tour, saying: “This site is as good as it gets and should be a model for the rest of Canada.”
Ranta said the judges pointed out many positive aspects of Cache Creek, however, the village earned the lowest marks in the Tidiness category.
“This was a bad year for weeds everywhere,” agreed Ranta, and the judges mentioned Cache Creek’s weeds in several places throughout the evaluation.
Factoring into their low marks were first impressions coming into town, vacant unmaintained properties downtown, and a few yet prominent untidy residential properties.
The judges also suggested that it was time for water conservation: “Water conservation issues should also be addressed and water restrictions be enforced as watering was still going on in the middle of the day.,” they noted, while praising the Village for its careful irrigation of public landscaped areas.
They also suggested more trees and more community involvement in beautifying commercial and residential properties.
Ranta encouraged each councillor to read the 16-page evaluation.
She said coming so close to four blooms in the provincial competition made her all the more determined to enter the village again next year and try harder.
Whether they enter again will depend on the Cache Creek Beautification Society, of which CiB is a sub-committee. The town was also in the 2008 competition.