Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc. Cleanest City Contest

The primary goal of the LGCF Cleanest City Contest is to become a litter free Louisiana. This contest by example can help accomplish this goal by bringing cities together with a common objective, to clean their communities. This contest is over 50 years old. We were the first and are still the only State Garden Club organization to have such a contest.

Cities are divided into 10 population categories in 8 Districts. This insures a town of 300 is not judged with a city of 100,000. A panel of three volunteer judges visit participating cities and rate them on cleanliness. This begins on the district level, the end of March or the first of April. (There are to many entrants to judge them all at once.) The winners of the District contest then compete on the State level, beginning the end of April or the first of May.

With the national awareness on "Going Green" and environmental issues, it is hoped we will no longer have a litter problem. Education is the key to achieving our goal. By educating our children; and through them our adults, we clean our state.

Jean Gilstrap, LGCF State Cleanest City Chairman, said "It is an honor to be here and to have you as a participant in the LGCF Cleanest City Contest. By entering this contest you are already a winner." We wish you good luck!

The LGCF State Cleanest City Chairman is Jean Gilstrap form Farmerville, The judges are Jeanette Gatesman, President Elect of LGCF, form Baton Rouge, Diane Dufour from Ponchatoula, and Carrie Martin form Covington.

A big thanks goes to the Abbeville Garden club members for all they do for the community. The State judges were so impressed with the amount of effort the Garden Club puts into keeping Abbeville beautiful. Especially the work and time involved in keeping up planters in the Square, the War Memorial and the Blacksmith Shop flowerbeds, in lovely order.

Keep Abbeville Beautiful and Abbeville Garden Club’s help with litter pick up was extraordinary. The city workers, the Sheriff and the Police Jury’s assistance went well beyond the call of duty. The city was so clean and pretty today because of them and other volunteers who realize that a clean city is a productive city. Thanks for all you do all year long to keep our community beautiful and safe. Liz Gremilion, Abbeville Garden Club, Cleanest City Co-chair.

The judging will continue into next week, Pineville, Crowley and River Ridge so we will not hear if we have captured the State title again for a few more weeks. We know we did our best.