A full five blooms and a first-place win has thrust the small community of Port Carling into the national spotlight.

The Muskoka Lakes Township community won first in the national Communities in Bloom 1 to 1,000 population category. CIB past chair Inglis MacDonald accepted the award on behalf of the committee and township council in Lethbridge, Alta. on the weekend.

Port Carling was up against three communities: Alameda, Sask., Baddeck, N.S. and Fogo, Nfld.

Past CIB chair Ian Wallace is ecstatic about the recent win, especially with such beautiful communities in the running.

“We are thrilled that we won,” said Wallace. “I am very proud. This is a stepping stone to our last challenge, which is the international competition.”

With the G-8 Summit coming to Huntsville and streetscape improvements, Port Carling should be in excellent shape for an international win, said Wallace.

Port Carling has won several awards since starting with Communities in Bloom in 2000.

Volunteers, support from both the district and the township, plus a lot of hard work catapulted the community into first place, said Wallace.

“It is a lot of hard work but it is very satisfying,” said Wallace, noting when they first started Communities in Bloom, there were no garbage receptacles and Port Carling looked “dirty.”

These days there are 24 members on the Port Carling CIB committee and many improvements, including the town mural and beautification endeavours.

Volunteers worked on about 20 gardens in Port Carling this year but Wallace noted the judges, who visited on Aug. 7 and 8, don’t only look at flowers and plants.

The two judges, a biologist and horticulturist, looked at water treatment, recycling and environmental actions.

Wallace thinks the Port Carling Golf Course must have been a highlight for the judges because of environmentally friendly system of recycling groundwater and an owner who wants to make the course the best in Canada.

Of course the Port Carling locks, island and downtown area were central on the judges’ tour. Wallace said about 80 per cent of the committee’s work is in this area.

Wallace met the judges in August but it was hard to know how well Port Carling would do.

“They (the judges) play their cards pretty close,” he said.

MacDonald will bring the award and a report from the judges when he returns this week.

Mayor Susan Pryke said the award is a tremendous honour and a credit to the effort of the CIB committee and parks staff.

“Of course it could not have happened without the support of the volunteers and the generosity of the donors in our community, and also the leadership of senior staff and council in championing projects to build community pride,” said Pryke.

The win could bolster tourism to Port Carling, Pryke added, noting she is aware of people who travel to award-winning communities.

“You do get exposure from being a winner or taking part,” Pryke said.

The volunteer judges evaluate communities in eight separate criteria, including tidiness, environmental awareness, community involvement, heritage conservation, urban forest management, landscaped areas, floral displays and turf and ground covers.

In the past Port Carling has taken four blooms and the provincial award in 2001, five blooms and the national award in 2002, five blooms in the 2004 international competition, and five blooms in the networking category in 2005.

In Muskoka there are currently CIB volunteer committees in Gravenhurst, Huntsville and Bala.