AIB's "Best Ideas" Book Gets International Acclaim

By Evelyn Alemanni

At the Communities in Bloom symposium and awards in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (October 10-13, 2012), our "Ten Years of Best Ideas" book received a lot of attention. This unique book features nearly 2000 best practices from America in Bloom participants and arranges them by criteria and population. Hundreds of photos from participants and even testimonials are included. It is the only book of its kind.

When Friday's keynote speaker, Ian Hill, CEO of Let Them Be Kids (www.ltbk.ca) was given the book as a gift, he learned that the book's author had donated the rights to AIB and that we use it as a fundraiser. Asking whether we accept donations, he reached into his pocket and said, "Here's all the Canadian money I have." Wow!!! And THANK YOU!!!

On Saturday, Mark Cullen, the celebrity spokesperson for Canada's Home Hardware chain of building supply stores (similar to Ace or True Value in the US) moderated a town hall meeting. He started off by saying, "Tell us your best ideas." Then he opened our book and read a passage from it.

Later, delegates from England, Singapore, Czech Republic, and Canada purchased the book. We certainly hope they'll find inspiring ideas to implement at home.

You can purchase the book at www.americainbloom.org.

By Evelyn Alemanni

Have you met the "Bloomin' Ladies" of Brooks, Alberta? In addition to judging for America in Bloom, I'm an international judge for the Canadian counterpart, Communities in Bloom. My judging adventures north of the border have taken me from coast to coast in our enormous North American neighbor. I've been as far north as Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory, and judged towns ranging from 1000 to 495,000 population.

One delightful experience in the summer of 2010 was to meet the "Bloomin' Ladies" of the Communities in Bloom (CiB) committee in Brooks, Alberta. You have to understand that Brooks is in the Canadian desert. Their annual rainfall is less than 10". They do, however, have a world-class irrigation system that has transformed the desert into amazing farms and ranges for cattle.

Brook's CiB committee includes 6 - 8 ladies who sing. They call themselves the "Sweet Petunias" (the petunia is the city flower). In 2008, they had satin bloomers made in orange, pink, turquoise, and gold. They weae them with black tops and matching multi-colored scarves. In fact, they wore them to the national symposium and awards in Lethbridge, Alberta a few years ago.

Each year, they compose new lyrics to well-known tunes. Here's just a sample which comes to us thanks to Jackie Murray, one of the singers and a CiB committee member. It was composed in 2007, when the city had hail just a week before the judges' visit.

To the tune of "You are My Sunshine"

CHORUS:
Our City's blooming, our streets are tidy
And our air is fresh and clean
We're proud to tell you, we love our city
Because it's beautiful and green.

The other night dear, as we lay sleeping
We head the wind begin to wail
We rushed outside to check the weather
And saw it had begun to hail.

CHORUS

Our flowers were drooping our trees were shredded
Our plants were levelled to the ground
But human spirit quickly recovers
And our city did rebound.

CHORUS

We'll pick up litter, we'll pick up garbage,
We'll pull our weeds and cut our grass
So when the judges arrive in our town
They will see we're still first class.

CHORUS

Well, the Sweet Petunias do much more than sing. The Brooks CiB committee even commissioned a beautiful mural and if you look closely, you'll see some of them in it.