Fort St. John was under the microscope this weekend as judges with the annual Communities in Bloom program looked at some of what we have to offer.

The program assesses a number of community features, of which flowers and landscaping are just one.

“In all honesty, I am impressed,” said judge Jack Boutilier, as he looked at mural art painted by youth along the fence of the old Fort Hotel site Monday morning.

“It has been 50 years since I was last here and it was a little hole in the wall. I cannot believe how it has increased in size. It is clean. It offers so many activities in a varied and diverse opportunity for people.”

Each participating community across Canada is compared on tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape, turf and groundcovers, community involvement and floral displays.

Fort St. John is the first of 10 communities on the current tour, the 16th annual Communities in Bloom.

Boutilier said he was impressed with how clean the city is, especially given all of the industrial activity.

“I am amazed that the work yards that we looked at are basically clean, everything is put away, you would not know that you are in an oil patch. You have done a lot of the right things here.”

Chairperson of the Fort St. John Communities in Bloom Committee, Karen Simpson, said this year’s tour was successful.

“It is actually going very well. One of the judges made a comment this morning that their time in Fort St. John goes by very fast so I think we are just overloading them as we usually do with lots of information.”

It is looking good for the city, she added.

“So far they are impressed with the energy and all of the projects that we have going on. City staff gave a really good overview of all of our initiatives towards sustainability and the water conservation, the vehicles downsizing, solar panels, all of those types of things. So far we are doing very well.”

Minor adjustments were made to the program this time, Simpson explained.

“They want to see volunteerism in all of their different judging aspects. They look at recycling and conservation programs, they look at our flowers and green spaces, the types of trees and flowers we plant, are they native to the community. How the community fits in all of that and what they do to help us as well.”

Boutilier said they take a total package approach to judging each participating community.

“We look at all aspects of the community and certainly not just flowers and landscaping, but how the entire thing comes together.”

Judges were treated to a farewell dinner at Centennial Park Monday evening where winners of the Garden Contest were announced. The mayor, city councillors and a number of guests attended.

Locals Russ and Cathy Wilkinson took first place in the residential category with Neil and Loni Evans in a close second.

Deanna Hill of the Fort St. John Visitors Centre took top prize in the Balcony Container category followed by Jessica Harrison in the second spot.

In the Not-For-Profit column, the Fort St. John Community Gardens and Artspost took first and second places respectively.

Links Golf Club won first place in the Industrial and Commercial category followed closely by Urban Systems in second place.

Boutilier said his point of view on Fort St. John has changed.

“From my perspective, I had a completely different view of this community after having been here for two days,” he said.

“As of today, right now, you are number one.”