Thank you for all the excellent entries in the 2012 Illuminate Yaletown Photo contest group! With hundreds of entries, it was hard to choose just one winner.

This year’s photo contest winner is Ann Hung for her photo “MINI @ 2012 Illuminate Yaletown”

Photo Credit: Ann Hung

Runners up:

Photo Credit: TOTORORO.RORO

Photo Credit: Ann Hung

Check out the rest of the entries online at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1854272@N24/

February 10 and 11, 2012 – Illuminate Yaletown returns!

Additionally, the third Illuminate Yaletown Photo Contest is back on Flickr.

Bring out your cameras and upload your photos to our Flickr Group here. Follow the rules on the Flickr Group to be eligible for a prize. This year the prize will be a single Grand prize that will be judged based on the quality of the photo and the interactions with the photo.

Judging will happen on the following Monday, February 20, 2012. We’ll announce what the grand prize is shortly!

Check out the fabulous submissions from the winners of 2011′s photo contest:

 
Charm –  Rob.Masefield

Edgewater – Ande_Han

Mini - fsurjadi

Epic – Dannychan_ca

Viridian - rjmigz

Earls – box of lettuce

YBC – box of lettuce

24Hrs – FYEOFarrell

Bond – b4ushoot

Clubzone – Doug Batchelor

Thanks to Illuminate Yaletown’s partner, City and Slope, we have a pair of tickets to the Benny Benassi concert to give away!

The concert details:
Benny Benassi, Sander van Doorn, and Arty will perform Saturday, Feb 11, 2012 at 7pm at Vancouver Convention Center

To enter the contest, Tweet the following:

Win a pair of tix to Benny Benassi during @Cityandslope via @iyaletown http://ow.ly/8Ql4b RT to Enter!

Tweet

Contest ends February 7th, 2012. One winner will be drawn at random.

Good luck to everyone who enters!!

Illuminate Yaletown returns this February 10th and 11th 2012, as part of the City and Slope Winter festival.

Photo Credit: Richard Quan

This Vancouver event starts as soon as the sun sets on February 10th and 11th. Once dark, artists will light up their exhibits! Illuminate Yaletown is a free Vancouver event & winter festival, bringing contemporary light art installations throughout the streets of Yaletown. Come enjoy beautiful lights used in innovative ways, interact with exhibits, and capture Illuminations in photos.

Photo Credit: Kama Guezalova

2012 brings City and Slope to unite Vancouver’s easily accessible ski areas with Yaletown’s vibrant night life.

Illuminate Yaletown is a free public outdoor exhibition. Please dress for the weather.

Photo Credit: David Theduy Nguyen

Photo Credit: Bill Kwok

Take this opportunity to visit Yaletown and dine out at one of Vancouver’s top restaurants.

Christmas Day is quickly approaching, and many Yaletown businesses have given back to the community this year through registered charities and charitable activities!

We’d like to recognize some of the Yaletown businesses that have taken on recent charitable activities this Holiday season:

• MINI Yaletown : Toy Drive
• Fine Finds Boutique : Support a Family at BC Children’s Hospital
• New Oxford : Toy Drive for Salvation Army
• Taste of Yaletown Restaurants : Over $4000 to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank
• 6S Marketing : $20,000 for Movember
• Earl’s V Lounge : New Year’s Eve supporting BC Cancer Foundation

We owe a big thank you to the volunteers that came and helped us during the Free Santa photos in Yaletown.

Yaletown Photography took great photos of Santa and nearly 100 families. This event brought in $332.35 for the Food Bank and 6 cases of food!

The Yaletown Naughty or Nice Girls Night Out on December 2nd was a hit!

Great gift shopping from Yaletown businesses and naughty Santa Photos with members of the Vancouver Fire Department! The photos taken at the event raised money for the Vancouver Fire Department Charitable Society. Be sure to check out the Fire Department website to order a copy of their calendar in time for Christmas

If you attended the Naughty or Nice party, please find a copy of your photo online here: www.flickr.com/photos/ybia/

Thanks to Johanna Ward for hosting “The Express” in Yaletown for this neighbourhood special:

Johanna Ward looks at how Opus Vancouver is a trendsetter www.opushotel.com

Bianca Solterbeck goes glam with makeover help from Noir and Blo in Yaletown www.noirlashlounge.com
www.blomedry.com

Check part 2 of “The Express” Yaletown special below

Check out “The Express” at www.shawtv.com

Beginning today, Taste of Yaletown brings together 23 great Yaletown restaurants offering 3 course menus!

A lot of meals taste good. This one also does good.

New this year: Taste of Yaletown is proud to provide a $2000 bursary to a new young chef, selected by the Chef’s Table Society, as well as to provide a portion of the Taste of Yaletown proceeds to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

Check out all the dishes that you’d like to try out from October 19th until the 30th in Vancouver’s Downtown neighbourhood of Yaletown!

Menus are online
Click here to see them »

Thanks to the Georgia Straight running their 16th Best of Vancouver awards, we have found the Yaletown businesses that have received kudos from the Straight’s many readers!

Excerpt from Georgia Straight. Best of Vancouver. September 22, 2011. http://www.straight.com/bov/2011 (accessed October 5, 2011):

It’s been months in the making, and it’s finally here: the Georgia Straight’s 16th annual Best of Vancouver issue.

For this issue, we were helped enormously by our readers, who completed more than 10,000 online ballots to tell us everything from their favourite politician to the best place to buy cheap drinks. There are over 250 readers’ choice categories, dealing with a vast number of topics.

The people have spoken. Now it’s time to enjoy the results.

Best of Vancouver’s Yaletown Winners:

• Local Video-Game Studio – 2nd United Front Games
• Restaurant for Fine Dining – 3rd Blue Water Café + Raw Bar
• Patio – 3rd Yaletown Keg Steakhouse & Bar
• Restaurant (Chain)

1. Earls
2. Cactus Club Cafe
3. Milestones Grill + Bar

• Restaurant for Meat – 1st The Keg Steakhouse & Bar
• Coffee Shop (Local Chain) – 1st JJ Bean Coffee Roasters, 3rd Bean Around the World
• Coffee Shop (National Chain) – 1st Starbucks coffee (Yaletown has 3!), 2nd Blenz Coffee
• Fair-Trade Coffee Shop – 2nd JJ Bean Coffee Roasters
• Restaurant/Café with free Wi-Fi – Starbucks Coffee and Blenz Coffee
• Brunch – 2nd Milestones Grill + Bar and 3rd Provence Marinaside
• Restaurant to Work for