Yarmouth's grassroots associations and organizations work hard to create their vision of what our town can be. Here are just a few groups who are making a difference:
- Community garden groups, including one at Beacon Church and two in Yarmouth's South End
- The Yarmouth Garden Club
- Community Housing Options Initiative through Collaboration and Engagement (CHOICE)
- Milton Improvement Society (to learn more, call Carol Weir at (902) 749-1617)
- Yarmouth Community Improvement Group
Let us know if you’re starting a neighbourhood association by contacting Town Hall – we'd love to hear from you!
Neighbourhood Programs
Yarmouth is being transformed by a range of neighbourhood programs spurred by the Town and the province. Housing Nova Scotia's Neighbourhood Improvement Initiative has helped revitalize our community with special grants to landlords and homeowners for exterior, street-facing improvements.
Here are some other key programs that are helping to improve our neighbourhoods:
Join our local committee for initiatives like Adopt-a-Block!
All Hands on Deck (no longer active, but its effects are still being felt!)
Yarmouth Volunteer Network
Heritage properties
Downtown Facade Improvement Program
If you want to make a donation to the Town, check out our Community Asset Donation Program. Contributions made through this program also benefit the parks, urban forest, greenspaces, the natural environment and the community as a whole.
Communities in Bloom
Working in cooperation with municipal employees, volunteer groups, businesses and individual citizens, Communities in Bloom has been successful in raising our Yarmouth civic pride. Not just because of our parks, streetscapes, and public areas, but also for the increased dialogue concerning environmental and beautification projects. Thanks to volunteers, projects ranging from litter pick-up to celebrating the Daylily have been enormously successful
The Communities in Bloom Committee receives full support from Yarmouth Town Council. Additionally, Communities in Bloom recognizes and applauds the significant achievements of some local business owners who are leading the way in innovative waste reduction projects. The Town of Yarmouth is also home to many spectacularly lovely private gardens both historic and contemporary. We take pride in the many stately first-generation trees which grace our streets and public buildings, and we celebrate the pride that our heritage home owners take in their properties.
- 2006 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 4 blooms in the Provincial Category
- 2007 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms in the Provincial Category
- 2008 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms and was the Provincial Winner in our Category
- 2009 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 4 blooms in the Provincial Category and 5 blooms in the National Category
- 2010 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms in the National Category and won the Beauti-tone Heritage Conservation Outstanding Achievement Award
- 2011 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms in the National Category. Winner Residential Flower Garden - Small Garden
- 2012 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms in the National Category and the Art Gallery's Innovative Programs received Mention
- 2013 - Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms in the National Category and won the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association Environmental Action Outstanding Achievement Award
- 2014 – Yarmouth was awarded a rating of 5 blooms and was the National Winner in their category with a special mention of Mayor Pam Mood’s, “All Hands on Deck Initiative”
- 2015 Yarmouth won the Butchart Gardens Land Reclamation Project Award
- 2017 Recognition for Canada 150 banners and “This is Us” display at Art Gallery
- 2018 Yarmouth won the National Urban Forestry Award, by CN
- 2019 Yarmouth hosts the National Symposium of Parks and Grounds and International Awards. This was the first time a small town hosted the national symposium.
- 2020 Yarmouth wins a national award for Community Appearance Community Appearance includes an overall tidiness effort. Elements for evaluation are parks and green spaces, medians, boulevards, sidewalks, streets; municipal, commercial, institutional and residential properties; ditches, road shoulders, vacant lots and buildings; weed control, litter clean-up (including cigarette butts and gum), graffiti and vandalism programs.