The Town of Hinton received five out of five blooms in the national Communities in Bloom program, along with special recognition for its volunteer community garden.

The community was competing in the category for towns and cities with a population between 7,501 and 10,000.

The Town of Hinton was judged by two volunteer judges, Hugh Skinner and Arlene Janzen, on July 20.

In their evaluation the judges wrote, “Hinton’s community garden is an outstanding effort in providing a space where residents can grow vegetables under cover. It also provides a venue for the informal meeting of people interested in gardening.”

The judges continue on to say, “It is clear that the Communities in Bloom program has been a force for good. We certainly enjoyed the atmosphere of your mountain community, with our welcome at the golf course.”

Although Hinton received five blooms, the winner of the category was the Town of New Glasgow, N.S.

The results were released at the National Awards Ceremony in Quebec City, Que. on Oct. 29.

The judges noted that the CiB program in Hinton is largely run by the municipality and suggested that “it would be more effective if it was possible to involve more of the public in development and promotion of the CiB program.”

CiB is a Canadian non-profit organization that works to foster civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community involvement. 

There are provincial, national and international editions of the CiB program, each of which judge communities on eight criteria: tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape, turf and ground-covers, floral displays and community involvement.

Hinton received an overall score of 80.3 per cent. It’s highest score, 82.8 per cent, was for environmental action. It’s lowest was for tidiness, at 78.7 per cent.