Communicopia

Every year for the past 5 years we have held a collaborative, year end holiday celebration with some of the leading members of our community: Renewal Partners, Tides Canada Foundation, GiveMeaning, Hollyhock, Strategic Communications, and party organizers Richards and Chan. Last Saturday our "Partners for Change" celebrated one of our most successful years as individual organizations and as a community, with over 500 people converging on the seaside Watermark Restaurant in Kits Beach for our event.

 One of the attendees, Linda Solomon, maintains an active online magazine / blog for Vancouver, and wrote a great Malcolm Parry-esque play by play of the festivities. Check out her article on the Vancouver Observer for more. An excerpt:

I looked around and realized there were about fifty people I wanted to talk to. “Will he, or won’t he run for mayor?” MLA Gregor Robertson and his partner Amy Robertson were getting down on the dance floor along with the tall, blonde masseuse Lisa Edwards who has just moved to Vancouver to run a Coal Harbour spa, Charlie Murphy, cofounder of The Power of Hope, a youth empowerment program, and his partner Eric. There was Vancouver City Councilor Peter Ladner talking with Janice Abbott, executive director of Atira Women’s Resource Society. Karen Mahon, Executive Director of Hollyhock Leadership Institute wore a sequined top as she danced with Lou, whose last name I just don’t know yet, but who was looking very elegant with his hand on Karen’s waist.

It certainly costs us a bit of money to throw such a lavish bash and with most of our clients living in other regions of the continent I sometimes wonder if it's worth the expense, but every year when I see the community come together, watch people connect, and see what this event does for our brand and for the strength of the community in general, I can't help but be proud to be in a position to be able to play a small role in that. Here's to many more years of success - and fun - ahead! Happy holidays to all.