It was five years ago that Bemidji, Minnesota first entered the America in Bloom contest. Bemidji is a delightful town on Lake Bemidji, at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It is the legendary home of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox. Year after year, Bemidji has continued to work on enhancements and improvements, and are back again in 2010. They have entered in the non-compete category and made a very special request, one that cannot always be honored due to availability of judges. They asked that their very first judges from five years ago come back, so that the progress can be assessed. (And no doubt, they'll look at the judges and think, "Wow, you've aged since we saw you last.") See photo below of the first judges, Diane Clasen and Evelyn Alemanni.


The evaluation the judges write for communities is very helpful to them, often providing guidelines for further improvements, and resources to help accomplish them. The local newspaper, Bemidji Pioneer, recently featured an article about the progress that has been made with help from participation in America in Bloom. You can read it at http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100017798/publisher_ID/3/.

Where will your town be in five years?