Best in the West Awards 2026

At the 2026 Conference the following Best in the West Awards were announced. Submissions for each are available below.

Events and Marketing

Austin Heights Bars

This is a simple, and delicious, marketing campaign. People of all ages had an opportunity to purchase a locally-source chocolate bar with a 1 in 5 chance to winn a gift card ranging from $10 to $100 for district businesses, who also participated as point-of-sale locations. The Committee appreciated the simplicity of the idea and execution, the replicability for small and medium sized BIAs and the member and community engagement involved.

Hey Downtown Van! Podcast

This project aimed to connect the BIA with its members, stakeholders and the broader community. Providing a fresh avenue for conversation, the podcast has become a powerful tool for fostering relationships, sharing insights and building a sense of community within the BIA. While the podcast has a healthy budget, it is something that is scalable to all budget sizes.

Block Party Series

This is a decentralized event model designed to bring vibrant, community-driven activations directly to businesses across distinct micro-neighbourhoods across the BIA. The series of events distributed impact equitably across the district, reducing barriers to participation for businesses with limited capacity and ensuring that engagement extended beyond the main road of the BIA to harder-to-reach areas. The Committee felt this was an excellent example of member engagement and public space activation.

Pleasant Day Festival

The process by which this festival was developed is what stood out for the Committee. Over 150 businesses participated in a highly collabotative model that positioned local businesses not as vendors, but as co-creators of programming. The BIA worked closely with business members to develop tailored :mini" campaigns to engage their audiences into the festival. Rather than traditional booth-based participation, businesses activated their own spaces and contributed directly to programming. The marketing campaign focused on hyper-local, business-integrated campaigns.

The West End, Taylor's Version

This project used the Taylor Swift Era's Tour presence in Vancouver to increase their brand awareness and drive business to their district. By blending art, public space and pop culture, the BIA demonstrated the power of timely, creative placemeaking to drive visitation, media attention and community connection. It stands as an example of how local partnerships and imaginative progrgamming can transform a global event into a unique local celebration.

Organizational Excellence

Imagine | Build | Thrive: A Community-Led Transformation of Parksville Downtown

Parksville was facing a downtown that had been in decline for decades, as well as a seasonal economy. Members and the community wanted more vibrancy, more reasons to come downtown, and an economy that extended beyond the summer months. Recognizing that a single large intervention was not a realistic path forward, the BIA began to develop a practical framework that allowed five connected workstreams to start small, test ideas and build momentum over time. They began working with partners in new ways, integrating them into the workstreams and co-creating projects. Small, visible actions were aligned with a larger vision - building trust, momentum and community confidence.