Business was booming in Nanaimo last week.
More than 120 delegates from across the province and Alberta attended the Business Improvement Areas of B.C. annual spring conference at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.
The conference was hosted by the Downtown Nanaimo BIA April 2-4 and pumped about $125,000 into the city's economy.
Corry Hostetter, general manager of the DNBIA, said many communities still look to Nanaimo for leading-edge ideas on how to revitalize downtown business areas.
"One of the interesting things at these conferences, and I've been going to them for a while, is that we're always asked, 'How do you guys do it?' from other communities," said Hostetter. "People always comment that we're doing a good job and we hear this all the time, even from delegates from bigger centres like Victoria and Vancouver. It wasn't a hard sell to get the conference to come to Nanaimo."
Nanaimo initiated the first business improvement area in the province in the late 1980s and has served as the model for other communities to follow.
Last year, Commercial Street, where the VICC is located, was chosen as Canada's Greatest Street by the Canadian Institute of Planners. In a keynote speech to the delegates, Nanaimo Mayor John Ruttan told participants how Nanaimo has capitalized on the designation and used it to the city's advantage for marketing and economic development.
"Other communities are interested in what Nanaimo is doing," said Hostetter.
During the three-day conference, delegates attended sessions on social media, building successful downtowns and cross-border idea sharing among others, as well as toured downtown shops and services to talk to merchants and owners. The New Westminster BIA team won the Amazing Race: Nanaimo Edition, which encouraged delegates to get to know each other and the downtown area.
The DNBIA collects levies from downtown area store and property owners, and also receives taxpayer money from the city, to revitalize the downtown core.
reporter2@nanaimobulletin.com