CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE
KING CITY — Professional volunteer judges from the America in Bloom national awards program will visit King City on June 14 and 15.
This is King City’s second year as an America in Bloom participant, and it is one of the many proud and passionate communities across America working on local revitalization programs with an eye to receiving a prestigious America in Bloom national award.
In addition to receiving detailed written evaluation from the judges citing strengths and opportunities for improvement, participants get a special mention for what the judges deem to be an extraordinary project or program. Additional awards that can be earned include: population category winner; outstanding achievement award — the “best of the best” overall participants in each of the evaluated criteria; special awards; community champion; and YouTube 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.
The judging team members are Bruce Riggs and Laurie Potier-Brown.
Riggs currently freelances in horticulture and is involved in several not-for-profit institutions. He is also very involved in the family landscape design business with his wife Melanie Menachem Riggs, who is also an America in Bloom judge. They reside in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Potier-Brown was raised on a dairy farm and there began a lifelong passion for wandering around in nature. She now has her own landscape architecture firm in Tampa, Fla., and recently completed the University of Florida Master Gardener Program.
To date, more than 250 communities from 45 states have participated in the program and more than 22 million people have been touched by it. Awards will be announced in September.
