Elimination of local VIA Rail services hamper with ‘Communities In Bloom’ scheduled stop in August

Business, Sarnia — By Joe Burd on July 4, 2012 at 1:42 pm

Via Rail’s planned elimination of two daily passenger trains could hamper with the “Communities in Bloom” summer itinerary.

Local committee chair Anne-Marie Gillis said national judges were scheduled to arrive on the afternoon train Aug. 8, but that train is to be eliminated Jul. 29.

Communities in Bloom is a non-profit Canadian organization, started in 1995 with 29 Canadian communities, that has grown to involve over 800 communities. The program strives to improve the tidiness, appearance and visual appeal of Canada's neighborhoods, parks, open spaces and streets through the imaginative use of flowers, plants and trees.

If necessary, says Gillis, the judges will have to be picked up in Stratford by local committee officials. However, she added that it may be more difficult to figure out how to get the judges to their next destination in Fort McMurray.

Judges are scheduled to be in Sarnia from Aug. 8 to Aug. 11.

Tags: business, Communities in Bloom, services eliminated, VIA Rail