Rebecca Westling along with other City Managers and City Foreperson, and organizer of the Communities in Bloom campaign, Shannon Wanner escorted the Communities in Bloom judges throughout the city.

Westling recounted the judge's route, "This morning we went to a few parks around the city. We went to Hillcrest Park for one, we had the new pool liner in the paddling pool over there. So we wanted to show them, that we are upgrading our facilities and keeping on top of things. Then we took them to the water treatment plant to show them the residual ponds, the settling ponds that we just installed down there. And showing them about the returning of the water back into the environment, so how were cleaning that up."

"We took them over to the cemetery, showed them the future plans, the upkeep, showed them the columbarium that will be installed. We talked about different areas in the cemetery, like where veterans would be buried and the requirements that we're following. We took them to some of the boulevards in the city, show them different ways that we've been improving the city with the different boulevards and the different plants, trees, grass and the self-watering."

Taking the judges through to some tourist spots, "We also went over to the Northwest Mounted Police Museum, showed them some of the culture happening around here. And driving between the different locations we were checking out the residential areas." 

In regards to judges, Westling explains that they have a judge on the panel who in fact grew up in this area. "They know about the southeast, the invasive species, for example, know the problems we would have with the different plants in our area. One of the judges teaches a horticulture class at the U of S. So very qualified to know the questions to ask, and where to see moving forward."

"We're getting feedback from them about where we can improve, what we're doing great at, what we need to work on, and therefore give us some kind of standard across the board. So we can track in the future where we're improving and what we need to move on moving forward for our 5-year plan." And this, in turn, will help the City of Estevan to receive future grants to help upkeep and maintain our beautiful community.