Results from America in Bloom competition

In 2007 the City of Ithaca entered into a national competition called America in Bloom. Evaluators visited Ithaca on July 11 and 12, 2007 to rate the city in eight categories: landscaping, floral displays, tidiness, urban forestry, environmental efforts, community involvement, heritage preservation, and turf and groundcovers. Ithaca was competing with four other cities in the same population category of 20,000-50,000 residents.

The evaluators toured the city and met with city staff and officials to learn about our parks, solid waste handling, volunteer involvement, and historic preservation.

Our scores in each category:
Landscaping                     90/125
Floral Displays                  97/125
Tidiness                            86/125
Urban Forestry                   98/125
Environmental Efforts     117/125
Community Involvement 116/125
Heritage Preservation      108/125
Turf and Groundcovers    86/125

Total points: 811/1000 (81.1%)
Bloom Rating: 4/5 Blooms

While we did not win in our population category, this was still a very good showing for our first time entering this competition. America in Bloom judges also awarded one city as "the best of the best" in each category, and the City of Ithaca was the overall winner of the Urban Forestry category!

For more information on the open criteria awards, and a photo of representatives from the Community Beautification Program accepting the award for Urban Forestry, click here.

Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped plant and maintain the floral displays, the City of Ithaca Parks and Forestry Department for their excellent work planting and maintaining city trees and parks, and local business owners who participated in "Ithaca in Bloom" with flower planters at their store entrances.

For more information about America in Bloom, visit the website   http://www.americainbloom.org/

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