Warrenville misses Bloom award; nominated for tidiness

Warrenville's Bloom Rating of 2 (of a possible 5) wasn't enough to overcome Tipp City, and Ironton, Ohio when winners of the America in Bloom contest were announced late Saturday in St. Louis.

The annual contest judges communities in the same population category on their floral displays, environmental awareness, tidiness, heritage preservation, community involvement, urban forestry, landscapes and turf and ground covers.

The loss earned the city one less bloom rating point than 2008 when the city last entered the competition. And the city was nominated for its overall tidiness, but driving home Sunday, committee members say they believe the city is poised to rebound in 2012.

"We want to work on what's lacking but we wont get the judges' report until middle of the week," said city clerk and bloom committee member. "We don't know scores. Once we see them and learn what work needs to be done we'll get things better for the next time we enter in 2012."

To help prepare, earlier this spring, a dozen volunteers installed concrete planters in the downtown area, planted flower baskets, created gardens with native plants and lined the Warrenville Road bridge with flowers. Volunteers also participated in a day of planting, weeding and mulching shortly before the judges arrived in late June.

Former Mayor Vivian Lund, also a committee member, said she was happy for Tipp City, who won for the first time in five attempts. But she doesn't expect them to hold the crown for long.

"We need to be happy with the progress we've made and opportunities and ideas we've collected to work on for another year," Lund said. "We're headed in the right direction to win this thing. Really, I'm just thrilled."

Committee members said the long-weekend event in St. Louis was a competition but also a chance to network and see what the winning communities are doing right.

"I've got pages and pages of notes to flip through so I can present some of this at our next meeting," Larson said. "It's a competition but not the type where you're going to walk over someone to get to the top. Everyone was very happy to share ideas."

Applications for the 2011 contest are available in February but both Lund and Larson said the city will take 2011 off to regroup and come back strong in 2012.

Warrenville previously competed in the contest in 2007 and 2008, but has never won its population category of 10,001 to 15,000. The city's highest "bloom rating" was three out of five.