Destination & Industry Development Update: January 2023

Tourism Richmond alongside the City of Richmond, Steveston Merchants Association, and other partners collaborated to create the annual Winter in the Village (WIV) celebration. Winter in the Village featured a variety of programming and events which ran through the month of December. These events included the Holiday Display Contest, Christmas Carolers, Festival of Trees, Songs in the Snow, and so many more!

Creating Winter in the Village

During the early stages of planning, Tourism Richmond worked with marketing specialists, C&B Advertising, to create an official brand for the festival, with the long-term goal to support WIV events and programming run by Richmond stakeholders with consistent branding. The visual inspiration of the WIV brand was to capture the “Festive and Fun” experience in the historic coastal [Steveston] village. We chose the following logo, as it represented the coastal feel, with the festive tree being made up of ocean waves.

We used the WIV brand on numerous collateral including banners, village kiosks, and more.

Tourism Richmond, The City of Richmond, and BC Creative also collaborated with local artist, Laura Kwok, to design Festive “Selfie Stations”. The selfie stations were placed in three locations around Steveston Village, the Steveston Tram, Town Square Park, and in front of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery NHS. These proved to be a huge success, with many people (and dogs!) taking pictures alongside the murals.  

Programming and Events

The 2022 WIV Festival hosted a wide range of programming for locals and visitors to participate in. 

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery NHS held its annual Festival of Trees, which allowed local merchants and organizations to decorate a festive-themed tree and have locals and visitors vote on their favourite throughout the month. Other events include Songs in the Snow presented by the Steveston Historical Society, the Christmas Market at the Steveston Hub, The Winter Tram Story, the Dog Parade presented by the Steveston Merchants Association, and Dog Photos with Santa, to name a few! 

Tourism Richmond promoted the various events on the WIV Landing Page. Visit the page to view the full event calendar from 2022.

Additionally, Tourism Richmond participated in presenting three major events during WIV by working with a variety of local partners. 

Holiday Display Contest

In partnership with the Steveston Insider, and Steveston Merchants Association, we hosted the annual Holiday Display Contest. This contest invited local businesses to transform Steveston into a festive village with dazzling holiday displays. For the 2022 contest, we had two winners under the Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice categories. The Holiday Display Contest ran from December 1-31 and invited people to vote for their favourite display in-person at the Steveston Museum and Post Office or Steveston Tram. 

Congratulations to Anar Persian Cuisine, for winning the Judge’s Choice Category, and Collective Beauty Studio for winning the People’s Choice Category. A special congratulations to Steveston Best of British for being the runner-up under the People’s Choice Category and thank you to all the participants who worked hard on their festive displays.  

Boat Holiday Light Contest

Tourism Richmond and the Steveston Harbour Authority presented the second Boat Holiday Light Contest, which was hosted primarily on our Facebook Page. We had three boat contestants this year, Just Travlin, Jenic Pride, and La Barka. 

People were asked to vote for their favourite festive boat on our Facebook Page, by liking the corresponding boat image. Congratulations to Just Travlin for winning first place and thank you to the contestants for participating in the contest. 

Dog Photos with Santa

On December 11^th, we partnered with Pathfinder Dog Ranch and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery NHS to host the Dog Photos with Santa. Visitors and locals were invited to bring their dogs to the front of the Cannery and grab a picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus. This event received positive feedback with approximately 90 people showing up to take pictures.  

Winter in the Village Passport

Tourism Richmond brought back the Winter in the Village Passport, with the help of Bandwango, a software company that works closely with our team to develop these experience passports. The Winter in the Village Passport featured 12 participating Steveston businesses and attractions, along with the self-guided Light Up the Village tour. The passport ran from December 1 to 31 and invited passholders to redeem special offers and discounts, while digitally checking in to the different locations. Each check-in counted towards a prize draw, allowing passholders to potentially win one of five gift basket prizes. Thank you to the businesses who participated in the passport and for making it a huge success! 

**Please note that our Experience Passports are now in-active

The 2022 Winter in the Village was a great success thanks to the hard work and dedication of our local partners and businesses. We are looking forward to working together to re-launch the festival for 2023!