Thanks to a dedicated group of local volunteers, Niverville’s aesthetics have steadily improved over the last few years. At 2018’s annual Manitoba Communities in Bloom conference and award ceremony, held in Morris on September 8, members of Niverville’s local chapter were recognized for the community’s hard work and given a rating of four out of five blooms for their efforts.
Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and community beautification initiatives. Over 60 Manitoba communities have participated in the program on both the provincial and national levels. Niverville began its own chapter four years ago.
The Manitoba Communities in Bloom program judges communities based on six specific criteria: tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscaped areas, and floral displays. Each chapter must be able to demonstrate the involvement of all sectors of their community—residents, businesses, town council, and other organizations—working together to achieve a clean, green, sustainable community which celebrates its heritage and unique potential.
“The [award] ceremony provides communities with an opportunity to promote their community and celebrate our successes,” says Shirley Hoult of the Niverville Communities in Bloom chapter. “Peggy Wiebe and Roz Krahn attended on behalf of the committee and did an amazing job at creating a Niverville promotional booth.”
This is the first year that Niverville received a rating of four blooms.
“In addition to the bloom rating each year, a special recognition is given to something outstanding in the community,” Hoult says. “The past three years we have achieved three blooms with special recognition [for] the lagoon remediation program, the Heritage Centre gardens, and the Heritage signage project.”
This year’s special mention went to the Heritage Life Personal Care Home garden planters.
“The [PCH] recreation staff ensure the residents of the personal care home are very involved in growing their chosen plantings in the patio planters and caring for them through the season,” Hoult says. “There was such a fun mix of vegetable and flower plantings in each patio garden. It is an enjoyable outdoor activity for them, especially for those residents who would have had their own gardens, an interest in plants, or came from a farming background.”
Hoult says that their eight-member committee got a lot done this summer over and above placing Green Thumb signs on the properties of residents and businesses who took the time to beautify their spaces.
Green spaces at the entrance to Fifth Avenue Estates, an area of Hampton Drive, and the amphitheatre at Hampton Park saw some needed rejuvenation. To honour the community’s history, a large graphic of the last steam train to go through Niverville was installed facing the railway tracks. Heritage Reflections signs will soon be placed at various points along Main Street. Four more historical boards were recently erected along the fence of the Niverville Elementary School.
“We are currently preparing a proposal of a recommendation for the production and installation of a four-foot high, 65-foot long laser wall depicting the history of Niverville to be placed on Main Street,” Hoult adds. “By the end of October, we will be submitting a report to the Town of Niverville for consideration at their annual planning sessions, summarizing the recommendations identified in the Communities in Bloom evaluation report, and the committee’s recommendations for continuing improvements, all intended to help to create a more vibrant community.”
While the committee has dedicated countless hours to these projects this summer and in summers past, Hoult is quick to acknowledge that none of this would be possible without the financial support and active participation of the entire community.
“[We thank] the residents, businesses, and churches of Niverville who all contribute to helping the community look more beautiful with their floral and landscape displays.”