According to the America in Bloom judges, Saratoga Springs’ flowers are tops in the nation.

Commissioner of Public Works Tom McTygue accepted the Ball Horticultural Company Floral Displays award on behalf of the city from the America in Bloom organization on Sept. 27. Representatives from Saratoga, including McTygue and his wife, Sandra, DPW employee Stephani Voigt and former finance commissioner Remiga Foy, were present in Rockford, Ill., Sept. 27-29 to attend the America in Bloom Symposium and Awards Ceremony.

“It was a spectacular evening for us to be there and receive this award for the city of Saratoga Springs from among 16 states and 30 communities,” said McTygue. “For our first time entering it was very rewarding, many communities have entered this contest for three or four years. It is an honor to have received something on our first go.”

AiB is a friendly competition in which communities are matched by population and evaluated on their efforts in eight areas: community involvement, environmental effort, floral displays, heritage, landscaped areas, tidiness effort, turf and ground cover and urban forestry. On top of competing in the population bracket, the winners for each of the eight categories within the population bracket go on to compete against the winners from other population brackets for an overall winner list.

Judges from the organization were in town July 9-10 to tour the city and judge us in the above-mentioned categories.

Population-wise, Saratoga was competing against: Beloit, Wis.; Ithaca, N.Y.; Kirkwood, Mo.; and Norwich, Conn. In the population category, Beloit, Wis., won, but only by a small percentage, according to McTygue.

Said the judges of our city:

“Saratoga Springs has shown a wonderful commitment to beautifying the city. The city’s municipal workers have made tending the flowers a priority. They have a terrific system, schedule and team. The evaluators believe that this process has been a way of life for decades in the Spa City.”

“No matter where someone lives in America, Saratoga Springs is definitely a city that must be visited. Saratoga could open its doors to other municipalities throughout America to hold seminars on ‘How to do.’ ”