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The count is on …

Esquimalt talks a big game, but Colwood isn’t worried
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The 2015 Greater Victoria Flower Count is now on. Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton is confident her municipality will repeat as champion

It’s time once again to name the region’s “Bloomingest Community,” and Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton is confident her municipality will repeat as champions, despite claims to the contrary by Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins in a recent news article.

Desjardins told reporter Andrea Peacock of the Gazette’s sister paper, the Victoria News, that she got the secret to winning the contest from Mayor Hamilton after Colwood’s win last year during the annual Victoria Flower Count. That secret was to get the schools involved.

Well, Mayor Hamilton has a message for Mayor Desjardins:

“I’ve got more schools than you, Barb,” Hamilton says, pointing out that the effort of L’École John Stubbs elementary essentially single-handedly pushed Colwood over the top in the count, and this year there will be even more engagement on that front. “It’s game on.”

Hamilton says there will be a strong push from both council and the area’s schools to encourage the community to get out into their neighbourhoods and enjoy this beautiful region.

“It’s really just a fun thing to do. We want people out there enjoying this beautiful weather and this sensational area; that’s what it’s really all about.”

And while people are out there enjoying themselves, she says, why not join in on the competition, take notes of all the beauty around you and register what you see on the competition website.

While there are bragging rights to be had within the region for the community found to be the “bloomingest,” Hamilton says there’s another side benefit.

“It’s kind of a way to rub it in the nose of the rest of the country,” she says. “They’re pretty wintery out east still, and just look around out here!”

Hamilton claims she has a few secret weapons lined up to help push Colwood over the top in the count again this year, but she was unwilling to say what those are after what happened last year.

“I can’t let out all the secrets. She’ll steal them.”

Find more information about the Flower Count and how to tally up your blossoms at flowercount.com.

mdavies@goldstreamgazette.com