While driving around the Dubuque area, you can't help but notice how beautiful this area is.  And we're not the only ones to notice. The city of Dubuque just picked up a Top honor for the prestigious 2022 America in Bloom National Awards Program in St. Louis, this past weekend.

PHOTO CREDIT: CITY OF DUBUQUE WEBSITE
PHOTO CREDIT: CITY OF DUBUQUE WEBSITE
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Dubuque won the AIB/All-America Selections Showcase Garden Award. Additionally, Dubuque was the winner of the Over 35,000 Population Category Award. Dubuque was competing with many other cities including Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Orion Township, Michigan

Dubuque received special recognition for its Environmental Efforts from its Advisors. Galen Gates and Sharon Hadden, AIB Advisors, spent two days in the summer touring the community, and meeting municipal officials, residents, and volunteers.

PHOTO CREDIT: CITY OF DUBUQUE WEBSITE
PHOTO CREDIT: CITY OF DUBUQUE WEBSITE
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America in Bloom Executive Director Laura Kunkle said:

“America in Bloom is helping communities of all sizes achieve their potential. Every year our participants raise the bar, and the accomplishments and progress shown by this year's group is remarkable. These are, without a doubt, some of the best places to live, work, and visit. Congratulations to Dubuque for the excellent work making your community more beautiful and vibrant.”

Dubuque was evaluated on seven criteria including community vitality, overall impression, environmental efforts, heritage celebration, urban forestry, landscaped areas, and flowers. America in Bloom is the only national awards program that sends specially trained Advisors to visit participants personally. In addition, each participant receives a detailed written evaluation that can be used as a guide to future improvements.

The competition each year is pretty stiff. During the course of the competition, more than 280 communities from 43 states have participated in the program and more than 22 million people have been touched by it.

Registrations for the 2022 national awards program can be submitted until February 28, 2022. Eligible participants include towns, cities, college and university campuses, business districts, military installations, and recognized neighborhoods of large cities.

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