Area 1, which encompasses most of South Hill and the adjacent trailer court, was chosen last week as the winner of the first "Most Improved" trophy handed out as part of the annual City Clean-up Campaign.

The presentation of the Golden Garbage Can trophy, once given out to the winner of the competition between Weyburn and Estevan, was made on Friday at City Hall to area chair Tanya Wolstenholme, who was responsible for handing out clean-up notices in the zone.

As well, several residents of Zone 1 were awarded prizes on Friday for living in the winning area.

Most of the winners were picked randomly, but at least two were chosen for having received clean-up notices and actually cleaned up their yards.

The winners were Douglas McNaughton, Robert Tollefson, Chris Masniuk, Ed Franko, Gordon Fleming, Jody Kerr, Marla St. Onge and Jacqueline Daterna.

Jean Fahlman, who has judged numerous Golden Garbage Can competitions in the past, said she and other judges usually don't reach the same conclusions immediately following a tour of the city.

However, after touring around Weyburn on June 7, she and fellow judge Ken Cross "had come to exactly the same conclusion" about the first-place winner.

"The reason South Hill won was because the trailer courts had cleaned up so much. They were looking so nice and neat," she said.

"That was the best we've seen it in years," later noted Ed Engele, engineering assistant for the City of Weyburn and a member of the 2005 Clean-up Committee.

The runner-up nod went to Area 2, which encompasses the middle section of Weyburn between South Hill, First Ave. North and Fifth Street North. This zone also includes the Weyburn Ag Society fair grounds.

As with many occasions, Fahlman said front yards were immaculate but back yards ultimately knocked areas down. There were many yards with abandoned cars, piles of tires and other accumulated piles of junk around Weyburn that affected an area's scoring.

Fences that had fallen into disrepair were also a big problem this year, said Fahlman. "It was a very obvious fault with some of the districts," she said.

This was the second consecutive year that Weyburn had held an internal clean-up contest as opposed to pitting itself against Estevan, who had dropped out of the competition in 2004.

Last year, the city was split into five zones and judged for the cleanest. This year, the five zones were judged for who had made the most improvement over 2004.

Fahlman said it was a little more difficult to judge the most improved, and had she not made extensive notes last year, she may have been a little lost. It also seemed that people were not as enthusiastic about cleaning as they have been in previous years.

At a wrap-up meeting on Monday, the clean-up committee noted that Estevan had done a residential green day event this year, so they may be coming back in 2006. The City of Estevan will be lobbied to that end.

However, Coun. Bill McKenzie said he thought the "Most Improved" contest was a great idea, and hoped to keep doing it in some form even if Estevan was brought back into the fold.

"I'd like to thank the community for supporting us again. They do a wonderful job. To those people who get notices and cleaned up, thank you," he said.

As with other years, many different organizations besides the City of Weyburn played their part in the annual City Clean-up Contest.

The Weyburn Chamber of Commerce held their business clean-up judging shortly before the residential judging. Leisure World was chosen for cleanest commercial business and Nexans was chosen for cleanest industrial business.

Weyburn Minor Ball contributed by holding their annual Green Day garbage pick-up, which involved 27 teams this year.

Though "Green Day" was held on May 28, most teams did their pick-up in the week before and after the Spring Classic.

Fund-raising winners from Green Day will be awarded later this week.

The Canadian Mental Health Association again loaned their services to do clean-up for home-owners around Weyburn, for a small service charge.

Though not as many calls were received this year, the CMHA thanks everyone who supported them this year.

The City of Weyburn also held a Clean-up Poster contest and handed out free drop-off coupons as part of the campaign.