The third time's the charm for the Town of Maple Creek on the Communities in Bloom (CiB) National stage.

This past Saturday, Maple Creek won the CiB National Competition for communities with populations under 4,500 residents.

The town of just over 2,000 received a 5 Blooms - Bronze rating during the 2017 National & International Symposium and Awards Ceremonies.

"This award really belongs to everybody to everyone that lives in the community," Royce Pettyjohn, manager of community and economic development for the Town of Maple Creek, said. "An award like this cannot be won just by the efforts of the town or committee. It takes every resident, every business, and every non-profit organization to make a commitment to improving the first impressions of the community."

CiB is a community-sustainability project aimed at making communities more appealing places to live, to do business in, and also to visit.

"The Town of Maple Creek has been quite interested in that program as part of our community development work here attaching people to visit Maple Creek, to live in Maple Creek, and invest in Maple Creek," Pettyjohn said.

The evaluation process focuses on a multitude of things including the work of the local CiB committee, the tidiness of local businesses, light industrial area, and the community's landfill.

"Our national win, we received special recognition for innovative work at the municipal landfill," he said.

The trophy is made out of a granite slab extracted from the Canadian Shield and is equipped with a 24-carat gold leaf.

Maple Creek's town hall will house the trophy.

"It's marketing for the community you cannot buy," Pettyjohn said. "Really what it is, is the bragging rights of being the CiB national winner."