Abbeville wins Cleanest City District title

As they passed through Abbeville on Tuesday morning, judges with the Louisiana Garden Club Federation liked what they saw.
That is apparent, as the judges awarded the city with a another district title in the Cleanest City Contest. The city won in District III. This marks five in a row and six out of the last eight times the city has won such an honor.
“It’s nice to have this victory again,” Mayor Mark Piazza said. “We are really excited about it.”
The city had to score at least 95 out of 100 to win the title. Points are deducted for litter and the appearance of municipal buildings, businesses and residences, among other things.
“I would like to thank everyone who worked so diligently to make the Cleanest City Contest such a success,” Abbeville Main Street Director Charlene Beckett said. “With out the help of the Garden Club, Keep Abbeville Beautiful, our City Workers and help from The Arc, and the many volunteers we would not have been able to say that we won the District Contest and that we will be moving to the State competition!
“We look forward to this next phase and everyone’s help, once again, is and will be greatly appreciated!”
District III Cleanest City Contest Chairmen Gwen Lanoux and Patsy Hebert stated that, “Abbeville excelled in the District III Contest. The judges were impressed with the overall cleanliness of the city and the extent of civic pride and community involvement.” Judges for the District III CCC were LGCF members Pam Langley. Ann Corbello, and Stephanie Tompkins.
Piazza thanked all who helped make the win possible, including support from the City Council and everyone with the Abbeville Garden Club and Keep Abbeville Beautiful.
“A lot of the credit goes to the volunteers,” Piazza said. “They are very hard working volunteers, both from Keep Abbeville Beautiful and the Abbeville Garden Club. Those volunteers work very hard to make this a success.”
The Mayor offered a special thanks to the contest committee co-chairs, Sandra Creswell and Liz Gremillion.
“We are thrilled,” Creswell said. “I think this is well deserved because of all the hard work everyone put in.”
That hard work is not over. The city will now go after a state title, which Abbeville has won three times, including 2012 and ‘16. The State Cleanest City contest will be held during the last week of April and first week of May. The exact date for judging in Abbeville will be announced by State Cleanest City Contest Chairperson, Jean Gilstrap.
“The competition gets tougher,” Piazza said. “There are a lot of municipalities out there who work hard and want as much as we do.
“We are looking forward to it and are going to continue to work hard.”
In 1958, the Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc. began sponsoring a state-wide “Cleanest City Contest.” To date, Louisiana is the only member of the National Garden Clubs, Inc. to sponsor such a contest. The aim of the contest is to instill civic pride in the individual citizens and thus, improve the appearance of villages, towns and cities.
The city of Abbeville is sponsored by the Abbeville Garden Club which is a member of National Garden Clubs, Inc., Deep South Garden Clubs, Inc., Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc., District III.