Last week the city of Vidalia won the District 5 Cleanest City Contest for the second year in a row. I am rather embarrassed to say that I glanced at the article, said that’s nice and kept going.

Well, on Saturday I had to take my youngest over to Vidalia for a party. While I have always thought the entrance to Vidalia from the bridge is well-kept and pretty I was immediately aware of how nice everything looked.

I dropped Emily off at her gala event and proceeded to drive around town.

Guess what I found out? The entrance to the city from the bridge wasn’t a fluke. I spent the next 45 minutes browsing through neighborhoods. It wasn’t just the ones that had large two-storied houses either.

In the ones that held small houses with one-car or no carport at all, I found the same thing.

Neat, well-clipped, edged lawns. Flowers blooming, trees pruned, and walkways swept. Even in yards where little money had been spent on plants everything was neat and clean.

Almost every business I drove by had something blooming in front of it or at least something green and healthy growing.

It is no surprise that the city has won district honors before, three other years to be exact. And I think they have a good chance to repeat their state win of 1994.

My question is how did they get everyone to have such a sense of pride? How did they reach every economic level and garner such participation?

If you drive down my street right now you will notice that even my yard needs cutting and edging, something I will be remedying this week. But all over Natchez there are areas that need improvement.

I do think our downtown has come a long way. Business owners are paying more attention to the outside of their buildings as our downtown residents. I think much credit would have to go to our Natchez Downtown Development Association for that.

I think we folks over here on the hill could take a lesson from Vidalia and strive to match their endeavor.

Anyway, before I get in trouble, congratulations for the district win and good luck in the state competition.

Christina Hall is the lifestyle editor for The Democrat. She can be reached at 445-3549 or by e-mail at christina.hall@

natchezdemocrat.com