HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Professional volunteer judges Linda Cromer and Tim France from the America in Bloom (AIB) national awards program will visit Holland on July 29-30, 2019. This is Holland’s eighth year as an America in Bloom participant.
The program aims to inspire communities across the U.S. working on revitalization programs get cooperation among municipal, commercial, and residential sectors by having everyone work toward a common goal, AIB officials said.
Judges create a detailed written evaluation, citing strengths — and opportunities for improvement,
Population category winnerOutstanding achievement award – the “best of the best” over all participants in each of the evaluated criteriaSpecial awardsCommunity ChampionYouTube Video
Judges will be evaluating the community’s efforts in the areas of flowers, landscaped areas, urban forestry, environmental efforts, celebrating heritage, community vitality, and overall impression.
Cromer has served her community, Greendale, IN, in a variety of political positions including as planning commissioner, park board and tree board chairperson, and housing authority commissioner. She earned a fine arts degree at the University of Kansas, and learned to love gardening at her grandmother’s knee. Owner and operator of a floral shop and greenhouse for over a decade, she has spent the bulk of her professional life traveling as an international representative for a labor organization and has used those travel opportunities to audit design and horticulture classes at a number of universities, and to study the diversity and individuality of public gardens and the communities where they are located. She’s a past president and active member of the local Garden Club and spearheaded her community’s first participation in the America in Bloom Program in 2005.
Tim France has been serving as the Coshocton, OH, municipal court judge (an elected position) since 2006, currently serving his third 6-year term. He has been involved with the community in various capacities, including serving on the board for Coshocton Community Housing, which provides homes for people with developmental disabilities. He is president of Coshocton is Blooming, a non-profit board established to participate in America in Bloom. His talent for planting and nurturing flowers began about 20 years ago when his daughter’s junior high track boosters raised funding by planting flowers in the 30 downtown planters. The planters were planted in May and were dead by July. He realized that someone needed to take more responsibility, so he hauled water in the back of his truck to keep the plants alive all summer; however, they were not thriving. The next year, he convinced the local Rotary Club to donate different flowers and the City of Coshocton to allow usage of their spigots and City water. He completed the Master Gardener Program through the Ohio State University Extension Office. He has personally designed and planted the courthouse and city flowerbeds and helped Coshocton is Blooming obtain planters for every intersection in the city. Finally, he piloted a program to replace the old containers on Main Street to enhance the architecture of the city buildings. The planters have grown from 30 to over 400, which includes 96 hanging baskets.
To date, more than 250 communities from 45 states have participated in AIB. Awards will be announced October 3-5, 2019, at AIB’s National Symposium & Awards Celebration, held this year in St. Charles, IL.
