The City of Weyburn is warming up for the national Communities in Bloom Judging on July 22 with a pre-emptive "Yahoo for your Yard" contest.

Weyburn residents can enter their own yard, a friend's yard or a neighbour's yard in Yahoo for your Yard, said Donna Hastings, tourism co-ordinator for the City of Weyburn.

People can enter in one of three categories: residential new yards (five years or newer), residential established yards (over five years) and other yards, which includes apartment blocks, industrial and commercial operations.

The entries should be phoned in to Hastings at the City of Weyburn right up until the day of judging, which will take place Thursday, July 14.

Winners in the Yahoo contest will be invited to the Communities in Bloom luncheon on Friday, July 22. Participants will also be asked to open their gardens up to tours during the Weyburn Homecoming from Aug. 1-7.

This contest is meant to get people excited about cleaning up the City of Weyburn in time for the national Communities in Bloom judging.

On July 22, two judges from Moosomin and Kelowna, B.C., will tour the community and inspect it for a number of criteria.

Hastings said the CIB judges won't just be looking at gardens and manicured yards; last year, the provincial judges asked specifically to see the landfill.

Hastings expects they'll be touring residential areas, cemeteries, parks and green spaces. They look for things like protection of the natural environment, cleanliness, preservation of cultural and heritage landmarks, and so on.

"It's interesting what they look for," she said.

Hastings said Weyburn is the only Saskatchewan community of its population size to be entered in the national Communities in Bloom judging, which is sponsored by Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation.

To compete at a national level, a city needs to win provincially and receive a four-bloom rating from judges. The highest a city can receive is a five-bloom rating.

Weyburn won provincially and received a four-bloom rating, largely on the strength of our city clean-up campaign.