August 13, 2008

The Judging Results Are In!

Judging for the Kingston Blooms front garden program took place during the 1st two weeks of July. This year we received a total of 139 entries. A special thank you to all entrants. Keep up the great work. Your efforts help make Kingston Bloom.

5 Bloom Winners will receive an invitation to the Mayor’s Garden Party and 5 Bloom Awards.

Following are the judging results:

Organization Category	Blooms
Barriefield Rock Garden	3
Cartwright Point East Community Garden	4
Cataraqui Cemetery	5
Elginburg and District Public School	5
Elmwood Community Garden	4
Heirloom Seed Sanctuary	5
Kingston Library (Main Branch)	3
Lancaster Drive Public School	5
Lord Strathcona Public School	4
Navy Memorial Park	3
Ongwanada (Portsmouth Ave.)	4
R.G. Sinclair Public School	5
Rideaucrest Home	4
Rideaucrest Home Secret Garden	3
Senior's Association	3
St. Joseph/St. Mary Catholic School	2
St. Lawrence College Energy House	4
St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School	3
St. Mary's Cathedral	3
St. Paul Catholic School	4
Storrington Public School	5
Residential Complex Category	Blooms
898 Oakview	3
Edith Cox - 30 Wright Cres.	5
Fairmount Home	5
FCC#10	4
FCC#28	5
FCC#45	3
Skweeks House	4
Rural Residential	Blooms
Barb Robinson	3
Green Woods Inn	4
Marie Geris	3
Sandra Carr	4
Tymparon Inn	3
Commercial	Blooms
Ambassador Hotel	5
Assurant Solutions	3
Aunt Lucy's Dinner House	5
Best Western Fireside Inn	5
Blaney's Florists	3
Colonnade Golf and Country Club	5
Earthworx Landscape Products	3
Extendicare Kingston	4
Glen Lawrence Golf Club	5
Hochelaga Inn	5
Kentucky Fried Chicken (Montreal)	5
Kentucky Fried Chicken (Princess)	2
Kingston West Family Chiropractic	3
Minaker's Flower Centre	4
Novelis Kingston	4
Rosemount Inn and Spa	5
Secret Garden Bed and Breakfast Inn	5
Downtown Floral Beautification	Blooms
Empire Life	4
FCC#10	3
Marine Museum - Patio Dry Dock	3
Residential	Blooms
Andi Vandervoort	4
Anne and Michael Levison	4
Arleigh Hill	4
Barbara Robinson	3
Blanche Battersby	4
Bryndis Swan and Sean Molloy	3
Candace Hartley	4
Carol Widdis	4
Christyne Flynn	4
Curt Bolton	4
Dan Mallette	5
D'arcy Wolfe	4
Debbie McMillian	3
Dianne Curtis	4
Donna Weaver	3
Dorothy Evans	1
Dorothy Hector	3
Douglas and Jane Knapp	4
Douglas Snyder	5
Elaine Savor	3
Elizabeth Read and Adrian Cooper	5
Erik Lund	5
Eunice Francis	5
Fern Abram	3
Francine Lefebvre	4
Grant Gilliland	3
Harvey and Shirley Eves	5
Heidi Garbutt	4
Idalina Fragoso	4
Inge Wells	5
Jack McIntyre	3
James and Susan Pritchard	3
Janice Saunders and Gary Graves	3
Jean Bell	4
Jennifer Cox	4
Jessica Foley	2
Jim and Barbara Leith	2
Joan Le Feuvre	5
John Proctor	4
Julie and Jerry Shea	4
Julio and Abella Cinsorcia	4
Karen Gagnon	4
Karen Phillips	4
Leila Arpin	4
Leslie and Steve Vollick	5
Linda Dubbleton	5
Lynda Dennie	3
Manuel De Sousa	5
Margaret Gibson/Sarah Gibson-Bray	3
Marie Warner	3
Mary Zureik	4
Maureen Pearce	5
Mislee Cooper	4
Nadine Box	2
Pam Benson	4
Pamela Williams	4
Panageotopoulos Konstantinos	3
Paul and Laura Chaves	2
Pierre Sinard	3
Ray and Nancy Popkey	5
Reena Kumar	3
Regina Hartson	4
Rene O'Farrell	5
Russ Brown	3
Sarah Gibosn-Bray	3
Skolnick Family	5
Stephen Crafts	5
Steve and Dawn Brule	4
Sue Mulvena	4
Susan Hetherington	4
Terry Millar	5
Valerie Angus	3
Vicky Huehn	3
Wendy Bryant	5
William Nute	3
William Wuerch	3
Zelia Amorim	4
Kingston Frontenac Housing Corporation	Blooms
111 Van Order Drive	5
Bill Napier	5
Dianne Knight	5
Larry and Lori Moore	5
Laura Lee Burke	5
Lori Ketchen	5
Margaret Smith	5
Norma Saylor	5

PRESS RELEASE: KINGSTON, ON - June 3, 2008, 2:00 p.m.

CN Tower Garden Highlights World Heritage Status Communities In Bloom Garden Will Show Off Kingston Attractions

The City of Kingston will plant a garden at the base of the CN Tower featuring Kingston's UNESCO designation as a World Heritage site as home of the Kingston Fortifications and the entryway to the Rideau Canal. The garden space at one of Canada's biggest tourist draws, was offered to Kingston in honor of its national Communities in Bloom win in 2007.

As another bonus for our city winning last year's Communities in Bloom competition, citizens of Kingston visiting the CN Tower this summer will be eligible to receive a discount when they provide proof of Kingston residency.

Kingston's CN Tower garden, designed by Anne Maxwell and set to be planted starting at 9 a.m. on June 5, will contain a miniature tall-ship created by metal artist Randal Doner and a sign that will invite the CN Tower's two million visitors a year to consider Kingston as their next vacation destination.

The boat represents Kingston's rich naval and sailing history and celebrates its role as the gate keepers of the beautiful 1000 Islands.

The top two sails celebrate our unique distinction of being home to Fort Henry national Historic Site and the Kingston Fortifications which, along with the Rideau Canal, are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Other sails feature City Hall, Market Square, Fort Henry, Murney Tower and sail boats to tell the story of Kingston's rich heritage. The garden incorporates grasses to simulate the movement of water and white alyssum to simulate waves so that the boat will appear to be anchored just off the shores of Kingston.

In addition to Maxwell and Doner, the planting team supported by the Kingston Accommodation Partners, will include: Mark Fluhrer, Director of Culture and Recreation, Sue Hitchcock, Kingston's Communities in Bloom Coordinator, Volunteer Sandra McNeil and Mark Stevens, President of Junk Out who will haul the boat and supplies.

Kingston is the reigning Communities in Bloom National Champion in the 100,001 to 300,000 population category of the program which is designed to promote municipal beautification through environmental stewardship and community involvement.

The deadline for nominations for Kingston Blooms' Bill Robb Visionary Award is June 13. That award recognizes citizens of Kingston for their contributions to municipal beautification and civic pride. Schools in Bloom deadline is June 2. Schools will be judged before the end of the school year.

This year the city will be participating in the Friends category of the national program. In this category, municipalities are registered but are not evaluated. Instead, they are expected to continue local Communities in Bloom initiatives - like Kingston Blooms - in order to maintain their bloom ratings. The national Communities in Bloom judges, Matt Rosen and Berta Briggs, will visit Kingston July 17 and 18.

Kingston must maintain its five bloom rating and work on programs and projects to enhance the program as it prepares to take on the world in 2010. Then Kingston enters the International Challenge, which pits us against cities in Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland and the United States.

Media contact: For more information contact Sue Hitchcock, Department of Community Services, at 613-546-4291, ext. 1716. Or call the City of Kingston’s media hotline at 613-546-4291, ext 2300.

PRESS RELEASE: KINGSTON, ON - May 5, 2008

Can You Dig It? Plant-off to launch Communities in Bloom
Kingstonians invited to aim for another five-bloom rating

Celebrate the start of the gardening season at the plant-off marking the beginning of this year’s Communities in Bloom Kingston program. It’s at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday, May 10, at the Canadian Tire Cataraqui Garden Centre.

Celebrity gardener Ed Lawrence, CBC Radio gardening expert and author of “Gardening Grief and Glory” will be on hand to sign books, and 21 local celebrities – including Mayor Harvey Rosen, city councilors and local journalists – will go trowel-to-trowel, attempting to design the most charming rain barrel in the Can You Dig It? Plant-off event. The resulting barrels will again be placed in Market Square.

The theme for this, the sixth year of Kingston’s participation in the program, is “People, Plants and Pride…Growing Together!”

Kingston is the reigning Communities in Bloom National Champion in the 100,001 to 300,000 population category of the program which is designed to promote municipal beautification through environmental stewardship and community involvement.

Last year, in the local Kingston Blooms program, there were 50 Five Bloom winners. This year’s participants can enter in the following categories: Commercial, Organization, Residential Complex, Residential, and Rural Residential. Mail carriers will again deliver postcards encouraging those at addresses with lovely gardens to enter.

Judging of local gardens for Kingston Blooms takes place during the first two weeks of July and winners are announced in August.

The deadline for nominations for Kingston Blooms’ Bill Robb Visionary Award is June 13. That award recognizes citizens of Kingston for their contributions to municipal beautification and civic pride. Schools in Bloom deadline is June 2. Schools will be judged before the end of the school year.

This year the city will be participating in the Friends category of the national program. In this category, municipalities are registered but are not evaluated. Instead, they are expected to continue local Communities in Bloom initiatives – like Kingston Blooms – in order to maintain their bloom ratings. The national Communities in Bloom judges, Matt Rosen and Berta Briggs, will visit Kingston July 17 and 18.

The City of Kingston has been invited to plant a garden at the base of the CN Tower in honor of its national win in 2007. The garden will contain a 10” x 4” tall-ship created by metal artist Randal Doner and a sign that will invite the CN Tower’s two million visitors a year to consider Kingston as their next vacation destination.

Kingston must maintain its five bloom rating and work on programs and projects to enhance the program as it prepares to take on the world in 2010. Then Kingston enters the International Challenge, which pits us against cities in Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland and the United States.

Media contact: For more information contact Sue Hitchcock, Department of Community Services, at 613-546-4291, ext. 1716. Or call the City of Kingston’s media hotline at 613-546-4291, ext 2300.

ANNOUNCEMENT: KINGSTON, ON - March 26, 2008

Communities in Bloom Launches its 14th Edition

Communities in Bloom (CIB) Canada’s program for the improvement of the quality of life through beautification, community involvement, environmental awareness and heritage conservation, is proud to present its 14th edition. This national program assists Canadian communities of all sizes to improve their quality of life while encouraging community involvement and civic pride.

In 2008, hundreds of Canadian communities are participating in Provincial Editions and National Edition and the International Challenge with municipalities from the United States, Scotland and Ireland.

In July, qualified CIB volunteer judges, Matt Rosen and Berta Briggs will visit Kingston and evaluate our overall performance in the following areas: tidiness, environmental awareness, community involvement, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscaped areas, floral displays, and turf and groundcovers. The evaluation is based on the achievements of citizens, businesses, organizations, institutions and the municipal government working together.

The City of Kingston will be taking part in the FRIENDS (non-competitive) category of the National Edition of Communities in Bloom this year. By taking part in the FRIENDS program the city will remain in the program and work on projects which will prepare us for our entry in the International Challenge in 2010.

The results, including annual bloom ratings, criteria award recognitions and winners, will be announced at the National Awards Ceremonies, hosted this year by the City of Lethbridge, Alberta on September 19& 20th, 2008.