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St. Charles a winner in nationwide beauty contest

When St. Charles first entered the America In Bloom contest in 2015, the committee organizing the effort had a sense of destiny. St. Charles, the largest of the Tri-Cities, entered a nationwide municipal beauty contest. It was the Pride of the Fox. Surely it would win.

It didn't.

The committee built upon suggestions by contest judges in 2016. It improved recycling downtown and added some beautification touches and community suggestions.

"We thought, 'Well, now we'll win,' " committee member and Alderman Maureen Lewis said.

It didn't. But the city did better. It won an outstanding achievement award for landscaping and recognition for its hanging baskets of plants. It even took home a five out of five blooms award, the highest rating from the America In Bloom awards program. And yet, it had the feel of winning Miss Congeniality while another town walked away with the crown.

So the committee tried something different for the 2017 competition. The committee members started viewing the judges as consultants. They stopped trying to win for winning's sake.

"The push was about changing the culture of our community," Lewis said. "We're not in it to win a competition. We're here to make St. Charles the best community we can be."

The committee got more businesses involved. It coordinated the participation of local homeowners. It raised more than $3,000 for decorative lights in the downtown plaza.

Last weekend the city earned the coveted best overall impression award. The award declared St. Charles the fairest of all the participating communities of similar size. The city scored more than 900 points out of a possible 1,000 in the 25,000 to 50,000 population category according to AIB, an independent nonprofit based in Ohio, which promotes nationwide beautification programs.

"Everybody pitched in and did a beautiful job," Lewis said. "The award means we're really good in everything. That's very exciting. Not many communities achieve what we have in only three years of participating."

The city performed so well it qualified for the all-star level of competition next year. Lewis said the committee would ratchet up efforts again to compare itself to communities of all sizes from across the country in 2018. The committee will build from more than 20 pages of comments by the judges. The city will make the comments public on its website in coming weeks. That will allow the community to see where it can improve.

"It's a ton of new ideas," Lewis said. "If we want this as a community, we can do it."

Like this year, a team of judges will evaluate the city in July. The awards will be announced in mid-October.

The win provides St. Charles entry into the all-star level of competition for beautiful cities in 2018. Courtesy of Maureen Lewis
The best overall impression award was a first for St. Charles during its three years of participating in the America In Bloom competition. Courtesy of Maureen Lewis
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