America In Bloom Honors Chicago Communities

Columbus, OH — How ironic. Not only did Chicago provide the backdrop for this year’s American In Bloom (AIB) Symposium and Awards Program, the windy city also took top honors in the unaffiliated Nations In Bloom contest. Recognized internationally for its greening and beautification efforts, Chicago was the grand winner of AIB’s largest population category last year.

What a fitting venue for a conference focused on beautification and green space. The event included workshops, educational sessions and tours – plus, the announcement of this year’s winners.

AIB is a national campaign and contest that promotes enhancing communities through beautification. Communities are categorized by population and evaluated on their efforts related to floral displays, urban forestry, landscaped areas, turf and groundcover, tidiness, environmental awareness, heritage conservation and community involvement.

This summer, judges visited 36 communities, and the awards were presented during a banquet at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago on the Riverwalk. About 180 community activists and floriculture industry leaders gathered for the celebration.

AIB’s 2003 population category winners are:

In addition, four special awards were presented to communities that received high marks out of all contestants in all population categories. These include:

Plans are underway for the 2004 edition of AIB. The deadline for communities to register is March 31. For more information, contact AIB’s administrator Laura Kunkle at 614/487-1117, fax 614/487-1216, e-mail lkunkle@ofa.org or visit AIB’s Web site,  www.americainbloom.org.