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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best in Arts & Entertainment

The purpose of The Port Theatre Society is to stimulate and enhance artistic, cultural, and economic activity of central Vancouver Island.  At the Port Theatre they host 110,000 people each year to enjoy a variety of cultural performances and events.  Through their partnerships and their programming, the Port Theatre has established itself as a community gathering place, a place of tolerance, and creativity.  With over 200 volunteers, they have one of the largest volunteer rosters in Nanaimo.  Together, their staff and volunteers help to ensure they are the community’s home for artistic and cultural performers, and audiences throughout central Vancouver Island.

The Port Theatre is honoured and thrilled to be the recipient of the 2019 Arts & Entertainment Nanaimo Business Award. “The timing couldn’t be better as we just celebrated our 20th year!”

The positive impact of winning this award is raising awareness that the Port Theatre is a non-profit organization built by the determination and hard work of this dedicated community. Since opening their doors in 1998, innumerable volunteers, staff, their boards of directors, individuals, corporations, non-profits, local, provincial and federal governments and their deepest partner, the City of Nanaimo, have supported the arts and culture at the Port Theatre.

They have grown to host almost 250 events a year, this is truly a place for everyone! Being recognized by the Nanaimo Chamber also acknowledges they’re running a successful business, providing well-paid local jobs and contributing substantially to the growing success of the downtown core. The Port Theatre also provides an extensive diversity of events and programs, allowing citizens to have meaningful arts experiences without leaving their hometown as well as attracting many out of town visitors for some of their unique programs.

Check out their website at www.porttheatre.com, like them on Facebook at The Port Theatre, or follow them on Twitter at @porttheatre!

Click here to download the PDF!

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Report to Council October 28, 2019

Report to Council October 28. 2019

Findings & Recommendation:

Impact on business and residents of homelessness and social disorder

Click here to download the full report.

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B. Gallant Gingerbread House Competition

For Immediate Release: October 28th, 2019

LAST Chance to Enter your Business in this Year’s DT Gingerbread Competition

This 2019 holiday season, will be the 5th annual celebration of B Gallant Homes Gingerbread Competition in Downtown Nanaimo. Registration is now open for Nanaimo businesses to sign up for the competition that gives you a huge opportunity to promote your company’s image give back to the community, in a fun and collaborative way!

Using imagination and creativity, your team will design and build a model which resembles a house, or a building, with gingerbread and royal icing. All aspects of the models have to be edible but the rest of the game is up to you!

Join B Gallant Homes Gingerbread today and start working on your dream gingerbread house now, it will be displayed in Vancouver Island Conference Centre and viewed by over 2000 people. Even better, you will have the opportunity to showcase your business to the community. The display will be open the public for the whole of December, and you are invited to the Nanaimo Chamber Presents Sneak Peek into Gingerbread Village evening on November 21st at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, prizes will be awarded to the winners.

It is a $300 entry fee to participate in the competition, $50 will go directly to the Nanaimo Salvation Army’s housing programs. 6 slabs of gingerbread and 2 royal icing containers will be provided to help you turn your talents into one of the tastiest houses in the world! Not only is B Gingerbread Homes event a wonderful way to get your team together for a teambuilding event, but it is also a way to showcase your company to Nanaimo and other business partners.

The deadline for submitting an application is on Thursday October 31, 2019.

 

 

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best New Business

Cold Front Gelato specializes in making innovative gelato flavours while respecting the Italian tradition of using local, fresh ingredients. They pride themselves in their “from scratch” methods that involve the production of their own purées, syrups, and sauces to produce the highest quality, natural gelato. Cold Front also proudly serves Milano Coffee and a premium selection of teas from a variety of incredible BC based tea companies.

The Cold Front journey began in Bologna, Italy.  Studying the traditional methods of gelato production, the goal was to create a world class gelato right here on Vancouver Island. The result is a mixture of traditional and innovative flavours, made fresh daily, drawing inspiration from Italy and the West-Coast.  One important tradition is their commitment to work with as many local producers and artisans as we can.

The greatest part of winning the Nanaimo Business Award for best New Business was “knowing that the people of Nanaimo nominated us and took the time to vote for our business.”  They are so grateful to all of their customers for sticking with them in their first year as a starting business.

One of their newest initiatives at Cold Front is to include pastries to go with our gelato, coffee, and tea.  Their second new offering is their delivery program.  Customers can go online at coldfrontgelato.com and order pints delivered right to their homes Monday – Friday!

Check out their website at www.coldfrontgelato.com, like them on Facebook at Cold Front Gelato, or follow them on Instagram at @coldfrontgelato!

Click here to download the PDF! 

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best in Health Care Services

The Nanaimo Child Development Centre has been promoting optimum child development by serving children and youth with developmental needs and their families since 1967. The Nanaimo Child Development Centre is the oldest Child Development Centre across British Columbia.  Their services are free of charge.  Through generous individual and business community supporters they can provide support services, education, and needs navigation to the families as well. 

The Nanaimo Child Development Centre is a CARF accredited organization.  Winning awards like this help them maintain the level of professionalism required to meet these standards.  On a more personal level, the Nanaimo CDC has many therapists working with children and their families throughout the Ladysmith, Nanaimo, and Lantzville communities who they’ve been able to share the success with.  To the Nanaimo CDC this “is an honour.” 

The Centre is very excited to be a main partner in the Inclusive Playground renovation that will be taking place in 2020 at the Maffeo Sutton Playground Park location. They have also started hosting inclusive play days for the community.  They believe these are great for the community because all children and youth should be able to enjoy activities and nature. “When everyone is included, everyone wins.”– Jesse Jackson 

Check out their website at www.nanaimocdc.com, like them on Facebook at Nanaimo Child Development Centre, or follow them on Twitter at @nanaimoCDC!  

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best in Corporate Social Responsibility

Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island is a not for profit organization with a mission to provide affordable homeownership opportunities to families across the Mid-Vancouver Island Region.  Safe, decent, and affordable housing can have a transformative impact on families and on the communities in which they live.  Research shows that kids do better in school, parents’ employment prospects improve, and families are happier and better equipped to face life’s challenges after moving into a Habitat home.

Habitat for Humanity raise funds via their two ReStores, which sell new and used building supplies, home décor, furniture, and lighting, as well as through donations. With the support of their volunteers and community supporters they can build homes for families experiencing housing poverty who would not qualify for a regular mortgage.

Winning this award was “wonderful as it showed us that our local community in Nanaimo is supportive of our mission and understands what we are working to achieve.”

The impact of the winning the award has been to encourage everyone at Habitat for Humanity to think about how they can go even further to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility goals.  For example, they are looking at working with local contractors to divert even more waste from landfill, they are planning to hold community clean up events, and they have big ambitions to be able to provide more affordable homes for local families than ever before.

Habitat for Humanity has a busy few years ahead of them with home builds planned for the Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo and will hopefully be expanding into other parts of the Mid-Island region. They would like to welcome more volunteers into our ReStores and onto our Build Sites and keep connecting with communities at local events.

Check out their website at www.habitatmvi.org, like them on Facebook at Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island, or follow them on Instagram at @habitatmvi!

Click here to download PDF!

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Candidate Added to Thursday Forum

NANAIMO – October 5, 2019

NANAIMO CHAMBER ANNOUNCES CANDIDATE ADDED TO FORUM

The Nanaimo Chamber announced it will be adding Jennifer Clarke, People’s Party of Canada, to its Candidates Forum for the October 21 federal election.

“This completes our efforts to secure representation from all the parties in the House in including Bob Chamberlin, NDP; Michelle Corfield, Liberals; John Hirst, Conservatives; and Paul Manly of the Green Party. Ian Holmes of Nanaimo News Now will moderate.”

The Forum will be held in Beban Park Social Centre on Thursday, October 10 with the doors opening for a Candidate Meet and Greet at 5:30 pm. The debate among the candidates will begin at 7:00 pm. Questions will be accepted in advance at info@nanaimochamber.bc.ca and from the floor. The event will be live-streamed via the Chamber Facebook Page.

Smythe continued, “The event is made possible through the financial support of Vancouver Island University, Canadian Home Builders Association, the National Association of Federal Retirees, and United Way plus our media supporters”.

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For more information:

KIM SMYTHE: 250-756-1191

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best Tourism Operator

Harbour Air was founded in British Columbia in 1982. With two small de Havilland Beaver seaplanes and a plan to service the forest industry, Harbour Air began by offering private charters to log buyers visiting the coast. With growing success and an increasing demand on both commuting and touring service, the company quickly expanded over the years adding daily, frequently scheduled flights between Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and Whistler.

Today, after over 35 years in business and more than 40 aircraft, the Harbour Air Group consisting of Harbour Air Seaplanes, Whistler Air and Saltspring Air has become one of the largest all-seaplane airlines in the world.

Amongst other accolades, Harbour Air is recognized as a platinum member of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, a recipient of the Cumberbatch Award for Safety by the Air Navigators Guild, a Canadian Signature Experience, a Business of the Year in Victoria and a National Recipient of the Visa Canada Experience of the Year Award. In 2007 we became North America’s first fully Carbon Neutral Airline.

This year (2019) the founder of Harbour Air, Greg McDougall, was inducted in the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame!

Winning this award is special for John because he knows what a fantastic job his team does daily and this proves it. Awards that are voted for by the travelling passengers and public always mean the most as it’s a true gauge of how we are perceived within the community we serve. The award serves as a great motivator and morale boost for the staff. Customer Service is not always the easiest business to be in but we strive to be the best we can.

The biggest thing currently on the horizon is of course the Electric Aircraft Fleet announcement we made back in March. We are currently partnering with MagniX from Australia in the creation of the first electric seaplane, with the rest of the fleet to follow.

We are also looking at some new routes to connect Vancouver Island and the lower mainland, so stay tuned for those announcements.

Check out their website at www.harbourair.com, like them on Facebook at Harbour Air Seaplanes, or follow them on Instagram at @harbourair (use the hashtag #flyHA and they might feature your photo!)

Click here to download the PDF!

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Selling Nanaimo to the World

Nanaimo • September 20, 2019

SELLING NANAIMO TO THE WORLD

The Vancouver Island Export Forum is an added attraction to the 2019 Business Expo on October 3 in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. The Nanaimo Chamber recognizes that manufacturing and export traffic to destinations regionally, and around the world, are rapidly growing. New business supports are available to those in the export chain for both suppliers and vendors. The Forum will highlight some of these.

The Island’s Foreign Trade Zone designation, the Port Authority’s Short Sea Shipping advantages, the opening of Export Navigator offices here, and recent rapid growth of advanced manufacturing on the Island are all great reasons to launch the Forum now.

“Whether your business is actively involved in export trade, or you count manufacturers and exporters among your clients and colleagues, this is an opportunity to gain information and advantages early in the game. Advanced-manufacturing is a rapidly growing sector of the mid-Island economy feeding the export trade activity of the Island” according to Kim Smythe of the Nanaimo Chamber.

George Hanson of VIEA, Export Navigator Fabrizio Alberico, John Juricic with the Island Manufacturing Council, and Jason Mitchell of the Nanaimo Port Authority will form a panel moderated by Nathan Seaward of the YPN. The discussion starts at 1:00 pm in the Lantzville Room at VICC and is co-presented by the Nanaimo Chamber and Young Professionals of Nanaimo.

Topics include the simplicity of profitability through mid-Island export markets, the diversity of products and services that are considered as ‘exports’, offshore destinations include… (anywhere off of Vancouver Island!), and who your friends are – a look at trade partners around the world!

At 2 pm, the Forum features the Belgian Trade Commission who will encourage exports to Europe by taking advantage of the new Canada Europe Trade Agreement using their country as the portal. Expanding trading partners is always health and CETA makes Europe even more attractive.

Help kick off Small Business Month in BC. Find out what’s happening with business in Nanaimo today at nearly 100 trade show booths. Trade Show and Forum attendance and registration is free! Register Now!

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