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County, towns show off for Bloom round 2

Don’t let the name fool you.

The America in Bloom program is about more than just flowers. Yes, the organization cares about the plants a town cultivates, but it cares even more about the character of a town. Judges travel around America’s towns, bestowing Bloom ratings based on broad criteria. Last year, the first year it participated, Henderson County scored three out of five Blooms.
Last Thursday afternoon, judges Alex Pearl and Barbara Vincentsen toured the Henderson County Heritage Museum in the Historic Courthouse, a building devoid of plants but rich with community history. “Think of the blooms as people,” Pearl told museum employees. “Who’s doing what? How much help do you get from the community?”
Pearl explained the multi-faceted, holistic scoring system America in Bloom uses. “What it is is evaluating the cooperative efforts of the business community, the municipal services, the private citizens, under the umbrella of six categories,” she said. “These deal with environmental awareness, heritage and preservation, forestry, landscape, floral displays, and the overall impression.”
“Is it neat, tidy? Are there services available? Friendliness, parking, mobility, way-finding,” she said. “How do you get around? It’s not so much about one is better than the other. You’re doing a lot of great things here. This museum is wonderful. Maybe there might be a few ideas that we can suggest to you, that you can use, using the resources that you have, to up it a notch.”
Next, the judges traveled to Bearcat Loop, the road leading to Hendersonville Elementary and Hendersonville Middle schools.
Mac Brackett, chair of the Henderson County Tree Board, showed the judges the group of over 70 trees Hendersonville Elementary Students recently planted along both sides of Bearcat Loop. He explained that these efforts not only benefited the community by beautifying the area but also helped the students learn about several STEM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).
Most of the land on which the trees are planted is public, but some of it belonged to Grace Lutheran Church, which graciously allowed the Tree Board and school to plant. That kind of collaboration for the good of the community is the kind of thing that America in Bloom looks for. Both the judges and Brackett expressed a hope that the Tree Board would engage in even more collaborative efforts with schools and programs like the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club in the future.
On Wednesday night, the judges toured Main Street. “The Main Street was still very active,” Pearl said. “People were sitting around talking, having a bite to eat, ice cream, whatever it was. Very casual, very laid-back. We felt very safe in the downtown area. Now that we can see it even better in the daylight, it’s very colorful, clean, a place that you’d want to come. The mix of stores is very good. You have a very thriving downtown.”

Other points of interest in Henderson County included Flat Rock, Laurel Park, the Sierra Nevada Brewery, and other places. 2015 scores will be announced at a symposium on September 24th-26th in Holland, Michigan.