For ten years running the Beautiful BG Contest has served up a series of honors for the best landscaping and gardens in the city, and has inspired countless residents to add a touch of color to their properties. The lawns of residents and business owners alike are judged for design and creativity, among a wide range of factors, during a month-long process that culminates in first, second, and third place awards. Winners are selected in three categories: Best Front Lawn, Best Accent Planting, and, Best Public Planting.

“It’s a friendly competition… Over the past ten years, I’ve seen [the city] grow and blossom,” says Dinah Vincent, president of the Beautiful Bowling Green Contest, Inc., the non-profit organization formed to run the contest. The vision at the start was to reward as well as to motivate gardeners, while also drawing attention to the benefits of beautiful landscaping for the city. Gardeners agree that the rewards are endless. Linda DeWalt, a recent first place winner for front lawn, agrees that the contest is good for Bowling Green. She happily adds, “I think everyone should feel encouraged to plant and have a good time."

The contest began in 1997 as little more than an idea. Vincent raised the idea at a meeting of the Four Corners Garden Club, a group she was part of. The club wholeheartedly took on the project, and soon gathered support from the Chamber of Commerce, several local businesses, and the Sentinel Tribune newspaper amongst others.