Best Block, Yard showcases Medicine Hat’s beauty

By Paul and Judy Howe on August 1, 2020.

You may have noticed Kiwanis signs springing up around the city on various lawns with the words Residence of the Week or Block of the Week. Behind the signs you will also have noticed how attractive the front gardens are at the particular houses.

For almost 50 years, members of the Kiwanis Club of Medicine Hat have been looking at gardens around the city and selecting ones they think best exemplify attractive gardening and contributing to the overall beauty of the city.

The current program sees the city divided into 12 zones, and each week a different zone is judged for the Best Residence and also the Best Block, which would be a group of five or more houses all kept to a high standard. Judges look for a variety of plants, creative landscaping, unusual features, good use of grass, shrubs, trees and flowers and overall street appeal. Judges are given some guidance but each team of judges are left to their own choices.

At the end of the summer (or after 12 weeks) a final team of judges re-visits all the residences selected and chooses the best individual residence and block.

An award ceremony is held mid-September.

Paul Howe, the 2020 Coordinator, noted that with COVID-19 there have been a few challenges, but with goodwill on the part of Kiwanis members and in some cases their spouses, the program got rolling on time in early June and is now more than midway through the 12 weeks.

Kiwanis would like to thank the Medicine Hat News, which has generously shown photographs of the selected residences and blocks from each week.