By Marvin Miller, AIB President

During the almost four days I spent in Hershey, Pennsylvania, earlier this month for the America in Bloom Symposium and Awards Program, my mind kept bouncing from thought to thought. During past visits, I might have blamed that on the smell of chocolate, but I really didn’t detect the aroma of chocolate in the air during this trip. I have been to Hershey at least “umteem” if not 20-some times previously, but it had been over 35 years since I last visited. (As much travelling as I do, I’m not old enough to have been somewhere about 20 times and to not have been there in over 35 years.)

Thought 1. The days in Hershey were filled. From judges training, to seminars, to awards programs, to an AIB Board of Directors meeting, I kept quite busy. Still, there was time to meet old friends and make new ones from cities that believe in what America in Bloom is trying to accomplish. We had 25 cities participate in this year’s program, two of which experienced our new “participant-only” non-competitive options. But we had folks from 68 cities in all at the symposium. Sure, this tally included our judges, staff, and board members, but it also included folks just wanting to learn more about what AIB has to offer.

Thought 2. Folks remain very passionate about their towns. We had people repeatedly stand up to promote their city’s “brag books,” so that others could see what they had accomplished. We had people who really wanted to compare notes of how they tackled a certain issue to see if others might offer a better solution. We had people who wanted to make sure the judges had seen this or that when visiting their cities, as if a last-minute mention might still help improve their score. And we had people recognized for their leadership qualities, as we presented all of our nominees and the first winner of the John R. Holmes III Community Champion Award. Congratulations to Rick Webb of Logan, Ohio, for this award and for all you do for the city.

Thought 3. Everyone is trying to make life simpler, as is AIB. Our contest committee is developing a template for cities to use to report on their activities across all eight judging criteria and the three constituent groups. We recognize the 24 cells in our judging grid can seem daunting to some, but our hope is this City Profile template will help cities organize their accomplishments, making it easier for both cities and judges to communicate about the pertinent pieces of what has been done as part of the AIB effort. Those cities that still want to tackle a larger “brag book” to record a more thorough accounting of the details are welcome to do so.



Thought 4. Our judges really are a very dedicated group of volunteers. They do their best to capture the essence of a competing city and yet communicate some valuable ideas they’ve learned in another city which might help the experience for the citizens in the city they are now judging. This is not easy work. Not all suggestions will fit every city. And some cities are better able to incorporate such suggestions than others.

Thought 5. There is advantage to participating over and over again in the AIB program. Our judges have different backgrounds, and they see each city in a different light. With each contest, your city receives a new and equally valid opinion from each new pair of judges who visit. The possible challenge is you may not score quite as well from a subsequent judging. Yet, the new evaluation is just as pertinent as the old, as each is given at a point in time as seen through different eyes. (This is not dissimilar to what may happen to an Olympic athlete on a different day, with different judges, and with possibly different competitors.) The truly outstanding city is the one that shines consistently for each new visitor time after time. It is only from repeated judging that a city can learn if a city’s visitor experience is sustained over and over again.

During the judges’ training, our Judge Coordinator, Jack Clasen, told of a city visited this summer in Ireland, which he judged in the International Competition. (AIB participates in this challenge as well, pitting our best winning cities against those from similar programs in Canada, Europe, and Asia.) This city had competed for 30 years straight in the Tiny Towns of Ireland program, but they have only won four times. I wondered what makes a city participate so religiously, especially knowing their historical odds of winning are outpaced by their odds of not taking home the trophy. As I thought about this, it occurred to me the city may feel the need to constantly improve, knowing the bar was being raised by surrounding towns every year. I also wondered if Tidy Towns of Ireland was viewed by this city as a type of ritual akin to our spring cleaning. We know our houses seem to get dirty, even while we’re away on vacation, but we go through our spring cleaning procedures habitually as a rite of spring just to stay even. In the end, I’m guessing the city truly wants the feedback received in their evaluations. It can be quite satisfying knowing how visitors view what you have to offer, irrespective of the scores.

Thought 6. The town of Hershey is gorgeous! Nestled into the rolling hills of rural central Pennsylvania, Milton Hershey built this town, located in the Derry Township, to house his chocolate factory. At the same time, Mr. Hershey, an entrepreneur who had had mixed luck with previous ventures, recognized that a city had to be more than just a place to house a factory and the homes of his workers. He built cultural and recreational facilities for the townspeople. He built roads but also invested in mass transportation. And he also built gardens. The famed Hershey Rose Gardens were later transformed into the Hershey Gardens, but even the grounds of Hershey’s personal residence, up on the hill overlooking the factory, were open for the public to visit.

Hershey also knew the value of education and its ability to transform the fortunes of the individual. He and his wife founded the Milton Hershey School, which still today, 100 years after its founding, provides a free education to any of the more than 1,000 students enrolled. The school especially helps the less fortunate, those from single parent households, broken homes, and those for which this type of a boarding school is often viewed as a life-saving improvement over their home situation. Hershey included horticulture in the curriculum for all students, and while that has changed a bit, there still are greenhouses on campus used by students in the elementary and middle school years.

The city of Hershey still includes some of the best examples of beautiful landscaping for a city of its size in America. Hanging baskets, planters, flower beds, and gardens are everywhere. Beautiful old trees dot the landscape. The landscaping at the Hotel Hershey includes some of the most dramatic examples of bedding plant use I have seen at a hotel in a long time. At one point, I counted five tiers of window boxes and hanging baskets moving up the façade of the hotel’s front entryway and terraces.

Thought 7. America in Bloom is on a roll. While we do not have plans for next year’s Symposium quite finalized, rest assured, we will be having a contest and a very special Symposium. Details will be announced as soon as negotiations with facilities are completed.

The Board of Directors was very pleased with the turnout of this year’s Symposium, especially considering the economic climate our country is facing. A sentiment heard over and over again was the need to keep people both engaged with and around horticulture (active) and to have horticulture around people (passive) during these stressful times. Urban beautification can certainly play a part in keeping tensions calmed, crime low, and productivity high. Urban beautification can help stimulate a local economy, help direct visitors to a destination, add to property values, and keep the living and working environments pleasant for all to enjoy. In these trying times, now more than ever, we need to keep involved with America in Bloom projects all across the country.

On behalf of the entire AIB Board of Directors, I want to thank everyone who participated in the Hershey Symposium. It truly was sweet. And I want to thank everyone who participated in an AIB effort in your city or town this year.

Enrollment is now open for next year’s contest, and it’s our hope that each city will be back again and also encouraging your neighboring cities to join the AIB program. For those mayors, city managers, or city councilmen attending the National League of Cities’ Congress of Cities in San Antonio next month, please be sure to stop by the America in Bloom booth to say hello, and please consider bringing a city official from another city with you, so we can plant a seed. Together, we can help plant so much pride in cities and towns across America.