Communities in Bloom (CIB) is a national program that recognizes civic efforts to beautify towns, preserve heritage and the environment. They also have a provincial competition that Moose Jaw competes in yearly.

"Moose Jaw's been involved for a number of years now," explained Parks Gardener for the City, Sarah Regent. "At the beginning it was just a group of citizens who heard of Communities in Bloom and "thought what a great idea, what a great way to show off Moose Jaw," and then when I came in because Parks and Rec does support Communities in Bloom I became involved in supporting Communities in Bloom and their activities here in Moose Jaw."

Judges made took their tour of the Friendly City on July 22nd, with Regent guiding them around town.

"We actually did a full city tour with the judges. They were here for Sunday evening and Monday, up until early afternoon. So we had quite a bit of time with them, and they wanted to see everything," Regent said. "Everything you could possibly want to see to get a good feel of Moose Jaw and the people who live here."

The CIB group here in Moose Jaw spent the past year beautifying the city by helping other groups with their projects. This included the new Happy Valley Orchard, the Yard Pride Program with Moose Jaw Housing, the cemetery, the Labyrinth of Peace, and the Hunger in Moose Jaw Community Gardens. All places that Regent took the judges too.

For judging, Moose Jaw is marked on six different categories. They look at floral displays, tidiness, landscaping, heritage conservation, environmental action, and urban forestry.

Moose Jaw has only been only competing at the provincial level, but if they manage to do well continuously, they could possibly be invited to the national level.

Judging is still ongoing in different cities across Canada, and marking is expected to be completed for Moose Jaw in October.