Rachel Pegg was the top winner when Yards in Bloom – a competition to promote gardening and community beautification – handed out its awards for 2019 on Aug. 17.
Pegg was honoured for having the Outstanding Master Garden.
Paul Bickford/NNSL photo
"It's great," she said just after receiving the honour. "It's a shock, actually."
Pegg said she has been gardening since she was a child.
"I love gardening," she said. "It gets me outside. I'm stuck inside for six months of the year. I love to play outside in the gardens."
Pegg's garden is in Rowe's Trailer Court, where she noted she has a fairly big garden and makes the most of it.
"You can do anything with the space that you have," she explained. "You just got to use your imagination, I guess."
Over the years, she has added to her garden, including by building a driftwood fence and using things she finds at yard sales and while travelling.
Winners in the 2019 Yards in Bloom were also announced in two other categories.
In the 'Amateur Funky' category, the winners were Marjorie Loupret (Baptist Church to the Welcome Sign) and Michelle Thompson (Town Centre north to the West Channel Bridge).
In the 'Amateur Town & Country" category, the winners were Audrey Berens (Baptist Church to the Welcome Sign), Josie Farrell (Town Centre north to the West Channel Bridge) and Aaron Campbell (Welcome Sign & Riverside/Miron Drive to Town Limits).
In the 'Community Containers' category, the first-place winner was the Hay River Heritage Centre (Vale Island), while second-place went to Woodland Manor (Town Centre north to the West Channel Bridge).
One of the presenters was Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson, who noted he always loves coming to the Yards in Bloom awards ceremony.
"I really appreciate the work that everyone puts in, not just the winners but every participant," he said. "I started to try to do a little bit of work in my yard, so now I realize how much work it really is."
Simpson noted that not every community has the grass, trees and foliage like Hay River.
"I just want to thank everyone for making the town a beautiful place," he said.
Yards in Bloom took a hiatus last summer to give volunteers a break and to re-evaluate the program
The initiative is a program of the Hay River Beautification Committee.