Susan Ellis and Larry Hall are judges from Communities in Bloom (CiB) Canada who came to evaluate the town of Mahone Bay in late July. In 2024, Mahone Bay was awarded 4/5 Blooms in the CiB ranking system. This year, they have entered again, hoping for a 5th Bloom.
The CiB evaluation grid includes Community Appearance; Environmental Action; Heritage Conservation – Cultural and Natural; Tree Management; Landscape; and Plants and Florals. Embedded within each category is a vital component: community participation. In 2024, Mahone Bay received special recognition for Heritage Conservation and Community Involvement, making us truly proud.
The Mahone Bay CiB team is comprised of people from many different organizations: Garden Club, Museum, Trails Association, Faerie Trails, Festivals, Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Hive, and Town Hall Council and staff. This is a wonderful network of people and organizations that are passionate about our community.
With a mission of “Grow Great Places Together”, the program fosters civic pride and community involvement by encouraging people to pay attention to and care about what makes their community a beautiful, healthy, and rewarding place to be. Their evaluation considers how municipal governments, local institutions, businesses, and residents each contribute to the community’s overall well-being. While they want to see the showcased places, projects, and people in town, they also want to know what challenges the community faces and provide suggestions for addressing them.
Participation is not a contest with other communities. Rather, the competition is to see if we can do better than the last time; whether we have made improvements on our way to being an even greater place.
We had so much to show them that was new this year, especially the Edgewater Project with its shoreline “Bay Way” filled with people strolling and rolling happily, as well as the magical new Faerie Trails.
We look forward to their evaluation report and to the October announcements of awards!
By Penny Carver, Mahone Bay
