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Collaborative Projects
Our goal is to work with every organization to make Lexington a great place to live and work. To that end, we welcome requests for help, and love to bring organizations together to solve problems and enhance our community. Here are just some of the ways we’ve been able to do that.
Downtown Planting
One of Lexington’s trademarks is its floral display downtown each spring through fall, created and maintained by the Lexington Parks and Recreation office. We have worked with them in several ways to help with this project.
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We recruit volunteers to help fill the planters with annuals each May
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When the city’s funding tanked during the first round of Covid-19, we connected them with Blackburn Correctional Center’s Horticulture Program to reduce the cost of growing the plants. It’s a partnership that’s still going.
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GET INVOLVED by volunteering to help plant or join our email list to get notices when there’s an upcoming opportunity.
Davis Park Neighborhood Butterfly Garden
A very visible wildflower garden on the high traffic corner of Oliver Lewis Way and Versailles Road/High Street. This garden adds a touch of color to what would otherwise be a grassy field. It contains two dozen species of wildflower annuals and perennials.
GET INVOLVED by volunteering to maintain and plant this lovely and highly visible garden.
Arboretum Scarecrow Walk
Each year the Kentucky State Arboretum hosts a trail of scarecrows created and displayed by local individuals and organizations. We participated in 2021, and hope to do so again.
Nature Hop
Lexington City Government held an event designed to get people out into nature, one of our main goals, so of course we wanted to participate. We set up a booth at the Wellington Daffodil/Coneflower Garden, had a short program to encourage citizen gardening, and provided Coneflower seeds to everyone!
Southland Drive Music Station
During the Southland Drive Retro Renovation, a standalone music kiosk was built in front of Oleika Temple. Flowers were planted in window boxes around the kiosk, but there was no one to maintain them. We were able to connect the designers with the firemen at the Southland Drive Fire Station, who watered and maintained the flowers through the heat of summer.
Photo by Bill Straus
Babies and Trees
Fayette County’s Urban Canopy has reduced recently due to losses in large and small trees from disease and aging. Getting more trees into the landscape in municipal, corporate and residential areas is one of our major goals. In April 2017, America in Bloom-Lexington and Baptist Health provided trees to every single baby born at Baptist Health. Tree saplings were given out complete with planting instructions (and an offer to plant in a park should parents desire) and congratulations. Program organizers Victoria Meyer and Nic Williamson were thrilled Tracy Durham-Beall and her young and enthusiastic Scouts joined us to provide this service.
2018 AIB National Symposium in Lexington
Judging
From the beginning, one of our goals was to participate in the judging process, a whirlwind two day visit for two judges who look at each city through a lens of wide experience rather than a competition. With different judges each year, our board takes seriously showing the best side of our fair city, and presenting the judges with our Southern hospitality, long heritage and amazing beauty. We hoped to accomplish several things…learn what we are doing right…learn ways to improve…and possibly win some awards. All three were accomplished as we participated in several AIB Judging Rounds, then moved to participating on an international level with Communities in Bloom (link to site) and received the highest “five bloom” rating and many commendations.
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America in Bloom
Becoming an America in Bloom five bloom city is a lot of work. Each year, we updated the city profile, prepared site visits at various locations, planned socials and meals, all while having a great time. We have been able to implement many of the judges’ recommendations, including naming the Purple Coneflower the Lexington-Fayette County Official Flower.
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Communities in Bloom International
In 2019 we broadened our scope through participation in the Communities in Bloom International Challenge. The International Challenge brings together winners from various National Programs including Communities in Bloom, Britain in Bloom, America in Bloom, Tidy Towns of Ireland, Japan in Bloom, Entente Florale, and Comuni Fioriti in friendly competition based on similar criteria. By connecting to communities world-wide, we learned even more ways to improve and develop our quality of life while preserving the beauty, history and cultures of our city.
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Our Evaluations
The evaluations for each year let us know how well we’ve done with what we have, what Lexington might consider to improve further on our already amazing environment, and add ideas that may work that the judges have seen elsewhere.
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View our Evaluations over the years by clicking/tapping on each link below:
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2019 CIB Evaluation - Coming Soon
2018 AIB Evaluation
2017 AIB Evaluation
2016 AIB Evaluation
2015 AIB Evaluation
2014 AIB Evaluation
