Best in the West Awards 2019

At the 2019 Conference in Surrey the following Best In The West Awards were distributed. Where entries exceeded the criteria and shone as examples of strategic excellence in their respective categories, Awards of Excellence were presented. Where entries met the criteria, Awards of Merit were given. The work plans for each winner is available as a resource for all members.

Economic and Business Development

Excellence

Downtown Langley BIA – Start It Up! Langley (Multiple Winner - Marketing, Programming and Partnership)

The Start It Up! Langley contest allowed DLBIA to reach out to entrepreneurs and provided them with a great list of potential businesses that are being encouraged to open up in Langley City. The winners, PinkAvo Cafe & Boutique, are a very welcome addition to the Langley business community, and the entire contest brought the community a great deal of positive attention.

Downtown Langley BIA - Start it Up Langley.pdf • 128.8 KB

Leadership and Management

Excellence

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - Facade Improvement Program (Multiple Winner - Programming and Partnership)

DMRBIA has partnered for ten years with the City of Maple Ridge on the Facade Improvement Program. The measurements of this collaboration are truly showing its success. Throughout those 10 years approximately $375,000 was granted towards 90 completed downtown Maple Ridge Facade Improvement Projects. A mixture of small to very large projects was accomplished, through a maximum $10,000 per project (maximum of 50% of total cost), thereby encouraging property and/or business owners to clean up their facades and improve the overall streetscape of downtown Maple Ridge. The program was so successful the City of Maple Ridge committed to extending their support (matching DMRBIA funding dollar for dollar) for an additional 3 years.

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - Facade Improvement Program.pdf • 52.2 KB

Merit

Downtown Surrey BIA – Tents to Home

The DSBIA started to advocate for a purpose-built shelter with supportive housing, meeting with MLAs from both sides of the House to gain support. The DSBIA met Ministers at the Provincial level regarding housing and drug addiction to assist with the problems found on 135A Street. DSBIA partnered with the Surrey Outreach Team (SOT), who set up a trailer on the encampment site to monitor the street 24-7, and reached out to the businesses. Fraser Health installed a Safe Consumption site beside the SOT office and 16 months later the province approved 3 sites of modular housing within the DSBIA area. They were able to house 250 people.

Downtown Surrey BIA - From Tents to Homes.pdf • 64.1 KB

Kensington BIA – Calgary BIA Toolkit

C-Biz, the umbrella organization of Calgary BRZ/BIAs, and the primary mentor of new EDs, wanted to create a Calgary BIA process manual. The manual gives a broad overview of the job for new EDs and educates business districts hoping to form a BIA.

Kensington BIA - Calgary BIA Toolkit.pdf • 424.4 KB

Marketing

Exellence

Downtown Langley BIA – Start It Up! Langley (Multiple Winner - Economic and Business Development, Programming and Partnership)

Downtown Langley BIA - Start it Up Langley.pdf • 128.8 KB

Merit

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA – Coupon Book

Providing an affordable opportunity in the shape of a downtown Maple Ridge Coupon Book, DMRBIA provided member businesses a creative marketing tool to advertise their businesses. The coupon books are distributed free of charge at community events, and are downloadable from the DMRBIA website/Facebook as well. Consumers are eager to get their hands on these books as they offer great deals from the unique businesses in downtown Maple Ridge.

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - Coupon Book.pdf • 904.5 KB

Kamloops Central BIA - Downtown Kamloops Video Marketing

Downtown Kamloops has undergone major changes in the last couple of years, from a brand re-fresh to new leadership. Video has changed the game in marketing; KCBIA wanted it to change their game too.

Kamloops Central BIA - Downtown Kamloops Video Marketing.pdf • 117.5 KB

Tsawwassen BIA - Welcome to Sunny Tsawwassen

The business community of Tsawwassen, in the City of Delta, is facing an unprecedented level of change in the retail, restaurant and fitness industries with the development of a second mega-mall in British Columbia immediately next to the BIA's district. TBIA has responded to this change, with the support of the City of Delta, through the development and distribution of a series of marketing videos and a promotional campaign to increase awareness of, and enhance connectedness to, the businesses in "Sunny Tsawwassen." As such, the development of a strong social media presence of those within the primary target audience has allowed for the creation of an asset for member businesses as the BIA promotes their products and services to this audience.

Tsawwassen BIA - Welcome to Sunny Tsawwassen.pdf • 1.7 MB

Programming and Partnerships

Excellence

Downtown Langley BIA – Start It Up! Langley (Multiple Winner - Economic and Business Development, Marketing)

Downtown Langley BIA - Start it Up Langley.pdf • 128.8 KB

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - Facade Improvement Program (Multiple Winner - Leadership and Management)

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - Facade Improvement Program.pdf • 52.2 KB

West Broadway BIA - Family Services Holiday Fundraiser

The West Broadway BIA is very excited to share the Caring Neighbours initiative with BIAs throughout BC, and highlight the value of the BIA to not only promote the business area, but to connect and support the community. At the heart of the initiative, local merchants and patrons come together to help local youth and families, and share the gift of generosity that can last a lifetime.

West Broadwy BIA - Family Services Holiday Fundraiser.pdf • 191.6 KB

Merit

Downtown Vancouver BIA - Ackery's Alley

As part of its mandate to ensure Downtown Vancouver has a distinctive sense of place and arrival, the DVBIA identifies underutilized laneways and works with project partners to transform them into engaging public spaces that are accessible to everyone and contribute to the livelihood of the city. THE DVBIA collaborated with HCMA Architecture + Ddesign, Tangible Interactive and the City of Vancouver to conceptualize, design and implement the vision for Ackery's Alley. Located in the heart of Vancouver's Entertainment District adjacent to the historic Orpheum Theatre, Ackery's Alley was envisioned to bring performance outside and elevate the lane with accents of red-carpet paint, gold paneling and reflective metals. Ackery's Alley also incorporates an interactive light-and-sound installation called FIELD, where sensors detect a person's presence, and changes colours and emits a symphony of sounds in reaction to the person's movement, creating a one-of-a-kind composition every time someone moves through the space.

Safety and Security

Excellence

Downtown Vancouver BIA – Clean and Safe Ambassador Dashboard

The DVBIA developed a dashboard that displays data collected by the Safe and Clean Team's data in real-time. The purpose of the dashboard is to optimize the Safe and Clean Team's operational and resource allocation and to provide a critical source of information for program and policy evaluations. Since the launch of the dashboard, there has been a dramatic increase in the Safe and Clean Team's performance, and the DVBIA has enhanced its ability to share key insights with community stakeholders about the safety and cleanliness of downtown.

Downtown Vancouver BIA - Clean & Safe Ambassador Dashboard.pdf • 119.3 KB

Merit

Kamloops Central BIA - CAP Team Expansion

The Customer Care and Control (CAP) Team are a group of downtown ambassadors who aid businesses, tourists and citizens alike. The CAP Team consists of several team members and a team supervisor who promote tourism and safety in Downtown Kamloops. In 2018 we extended support and partnered with the North Shore BIA to have the CAP Team extend to their jurisdiction to help ease safety concerns coming from their members.

Kamloops Central BIA - CAP Team Expansion.pdf • 123.1 KB

Special Events

Excellence

Downtown New Westminster BIA – Friday's on Front

The Friday's on Front Holiday Edition was a fully licensed winter night market that took place underneath the Downtown New West Parkade. The festival created a dramatic transformation of an underutilized area and included food trucks, artisan vendors, live music and activations from Downtown businesses. The results far exceeded everyone's goals and objectives. The transformation of the space was incredible; from an underutilized, neglected area to something truly magical. The Friday's on Front formula worked wonderfully with many saying it felt like a scene from a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Downtown New Westminster BIA - Fridays on Front.pdf • 119.2 KB

Robson Street BA – Winter's Dance

The Robson Street Business Association, in partnership with Small Stages, successfully hosted the 3rd Annual Winter's Dance #onRobson public art installation to kick off the holiday season. The event is a fusion of live and digital dance that integrates arts and culture into the public realm creating a unique experience for visitors to Robson Street. Winter's Dance brought to life "The Music Box Dancers" in a burst of light, colour and sound on the facade of one of the buildings, complemented by live dancers performing at street level inside a snow globe. Various genres of dance, including tap, hip-hop and contemporary could be experienced live, via video projection or digitally on a smart phone using the newly developed Winter's Dance app.

Merit

Cloverdale BIA – 13th Annual Surrey Santa Parade of Lights

The Cloverdale BIA is very proud to organize a community event with a cause that truly brings the community together. The Surrey Santa parade is one of many events that make up why Cloverdale is "A Good Place to Grow" a family and a business. Every year we strive to make the event more meaningful and to raise money and food for those in need.

Cloverdale BIA - 13th Annual Surrey Santa Parade of Lights.pdf • 62.7 KB

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - I Love Downtown Maple Ridge

I Love Downtown Maple Ridge Shop Local campaign proved successful with over 1,100 receipts entered to win one of two gift baskets. Donations from Downtown businesses created two humongous Valentine's pamper gift baskets filled with products, services and treats valued at $1,000 each. Downtown Maple Ridge BIA supplied each participating business with a beautifully decorated bad to collect the receipt entry. A great promotional event almost directly after Christmas, when all stores are usually quiet and not much is going on. It was great to see so many entire, well beyond our expectations.

Downtown Maple Ridge BIA - I Love Downtown Maple Ridge.pdf • 98.7 KB

Downtown Surrey BIA - Gingerbread Village

Downtown Surrey BIA had 54 entries for their Gingerbread Village event from businesses, elementary schools, high schools, universities, non-profit groups and charities. The entries were amazing and included a merry-go-round, an outdoor ice rink, a Ferris wheel and even a Surrey World of Science. Also represented were fire trucks, the new Civic Hotel/KPU Building and the law courts. Customers to Central City, the location of the contest, voted for their favourite with loonies and toonies that were donated to the Surrey Christmas Bureau.

Downtown Surrey BIA - Gingerbread Village.pdf • 131.3 KB

Sustainability

Merit

Kamloops Central BIA – Sustainability & Coffee

The purchase of one cup of coffee every morning in a disposable cup would create 23 pounds of waste a year. With a downtown full of on-the-go businessmen and women, we knew we needed to raise awareness and change behaviours around using disposable cups (and other items). Throughout the Sustainability & Coffee initiative we were able to raise awareness and change behaviours around using disposable cups.

Kamloops Central BIA - Sustainability & Coffee.pdf • 123.4 KB