Fayetteville wins America in Bloom Award | Press Release

** Ozarks Unbound did not edit this press release **

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCTOBER 16, 2009

Fayetteville Wins America in Bloom Award and Fayettevilles Cindi Cope

Honored at National Symposium

Fayetteville, AR — The 8th Annual America in Bloom Symposium was held October 1-3 in Hershey PA. Fayetteville won the Environmental Awareness award partly due to the vision of the City of Fayetteville, businesses, and citizens in building a green environment. Fayetteville also earned 4 Blooms in the contest.

Cindi Cope, Chair of the Fayetteville in Bloom Program, represented Fayetteville at the Symposium and was honored as a nominee for the first annual John R. Holmes III award as a Community Champion. Her plaque reads in part “When Fayetteville needed someone to lead the already successful America in Bloom Committee, volunteer Cindi Cope did not hesitate. She felt so strongly about the importance of continuing Fayetteville’s role as a recognized AIB city that she put her heart and soul into it. The result has been an even greater city effort than ever before.

America in Bloom is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization encouraging nationwide beautification programs, personal and community involvement, educational programs, and the challenge of a friendly competition among participating communities across the country. Twenty-five communities from all regions of the country participated in the eighth edition of America in Bloom. In the friendly competition, communities are matched by population and evaluated on their efforts related to floral displays, urban forestry, landscaped areas, turf and groundcover, tidiness, environmental awareness, heritage conservation, and community involvement. Judges visited the communities this summer.

Eight special awards were presented at the Symposium to communities that received high marks out of all contestants in all population categories. These include:

Ball Horticultural Company Floral Displays Award – Greendale, Indiana
Meister Media Worldwide Heritage Preservation Award – Rising Sun, Indiana
Proven Winners Landscaped Areas Award – Collierville, Tennessee
American Horticultural Society Community Involvement Award – Aurora, Indiana
Gardens Alive! Environmental Awareness Award – Fayetteville, Arkansas
J Frank Schmidt & Son Company Urban Forestry Award – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Turf & Groundcover Areas Award – Michigan City, Indiana
Tidiness Award – Arroyo Grande, California

Seminars are held at the Symposium to inform participants on criteria topics of horticultural, heritage, urban forestry, fund raising, and other criteria topics. Participants are able to make connections with leaders in their field, for example one of the speakers passionately talked about using organic fertilizer instead of chemicals because not only it is safer but it reduces the need for watering and mowing while improving turf. Additionally several awards were given including Criteria Awards. This is probably the most significant, as only one community is recognized for each of the eight criteria out of the 25 cities participating.

Picture-Cindi Cope:
http://picasaweb.google.com/AIB.Planting.Pride/2009AIBSymposiumAwardsProgram?feat=directlink#5389875352549210338

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