Six awards in various categories were given out to recognize businesses that went above and beyond in 2020
VANCOUVER — The year 2020 was full of unprecedented challenges for the Vancouver community. During that time, businesses worked relentlessly to pivot, adapt, and survive through the uncharted territory of a pandemic.
Ultimately, downtown Vancouver innovated and remained resilient to meet the challenge.
Over the last 10 years, the Van-Tastic Award Ceremony has been a celebration of small businesses and Vancouver’s community-centric values. This year, the Van-Tastics was condensed into an engaging 8-minute video, available for view on YouTube and Facebook.
“So typically, our award ceremony is in person, with COVID, it really presented an interesting opportunity to pivot the platform,” said VDA Executive Director Michael Walker. “With it being in a video format, from my perspective, it was able to reach a wider audience over a longer period of time, which is really interesting to see, especially on Facebook, and through our newsletter and on YouTube. I think we’re at about 8,500 views on Facebook, and it just continues to climb.”
There are six award categories recognizing Vancouver’s downtown businesses:
Believe & Achieve
The Believe and Achieve Award recognizes start-ups, expansions, and other small businesses growing in downtown.
Recipient: Kindred Homestead Supply
Ooh Ahh! Award
The Ooh Ahh! Award recognizes the best remodel, re-brand, or successful business pivot in 2020.
Recipient: Night Market Pop-Local
Yellow Umbrella Award
The Yellow Umbrella Award recognizes extraordinary resiliency and ingenuity during COVID-19 mandates.
Recipient: Kiggins Theatre
Vancouver-Made
The Vancouver Made Award celebrates locally made or manufactured items.
Recipient: Bleu Door Bakery
The Carl Dobbs Commendation
An award honoring a late Carl Dobbs who championed the downtown tree planting, and the revitalization of Turtle Place. This award embodies dedication and sense of duty to our community.
Recipient: Holly Williams
Corporate Sponsor Recognition
Recognizes community partnerships that made VDA’s community development efforts possible.
Recipient: LSW Architects and Riff_Creative
“So the awards, they’re recognition,” Walker said. “So it just kind of highlighted the businesses themselves, and then also working through our marketing channels to highlight their business specifically. So it’s a mixture of community recognition, and the related marketing exposure to highlighting them throughout our different channels.”
You can reach out to Michael Walker, for additional information at director@vdausa.org, or (360) 258-1129.
Information provided by the Vancouver Downtown Association
