The Town of Oliver is the latest to take up the Communities in Bloom challenge, looking at it as a way to both revitalize the community and raise its profile.
“With the demise of the economic development function, and the recent closing of General Coach, anything that can get the town of Oliver headed toward revitalization should be welcomed with open arms,” said Kenn Oldfield, president of the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce, who recently voted to support an initiative to get Oliver’s Communities in Bloom project off the ground.
Longtime Oliver resident Betty Lou Trimmer-Bahnsen, who is spearheading the project, said that Oliver council also voted to support the initiative and a committee has formed that includes the community garden organizers, heritage society, downtown merchants, the arts council and the SOCC.
“It is my intention to try and develop some interest in this topic and at the very least to get the town cleaned up so that it becomes more attractive to businesses and visitors,” said Trimmer-Bahnsen. “We need it because we could do better. We could attract more business, we could feel better about ourselves, we could have more civic pride, we could reduce vandalism, we could look good and we could increase economic and property values.”
Trimmer-Bahnsen said such a program would help residents be more inclined to shop locally, and would make for easier marketing for the town.
“In the past five to 10 years Oliver has been deteriorating,” Trimmer-Bahnsen said.
Communities in Bloom is a non-profit organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility, beautification and to improving quality of life through community participation and the challenge of a national competition, with focus on the protection and promotion of green spaces.
The communities are rated on criteria of tidiness, environmental awareness, community involvement, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscaped areas, floral displays and turf and ground cover.
The Oliver group must register its intent to participate by the end of March. The first year, they will be taking part in the “non-competitive” category, meaning that while the program’s judges will still visit in the summer, the town won’t be up for official judging until the following year.
(Copyright (c) 2009 Black Press Group Ltd.)