This January at the Engineers Without Borders 10th Anniversary conference an idea came up during a brain storm. The goal was to inspire Canadian consumer to take action and purchase Fair Trade products to support rural African livelihoods. The idea was to combine the power of the EWB network with TransFair to launch a campaign telling people to Love the World this Valentine's Day as well as that one special person in it.
Drink tea? Who doesn't - it's one of the world's most popular drinks. Join Fair Trade Vancouver for a fun and educational evening to learn more on the issues around Fair Trade (and non-Fair Trade) teas.
Since Vancouver became the first major city in Canada to achieve Fair Trade Town status, press coverage of Fair Trade has exploded in Metro Vancouver and across the country.
Join Fair Trade Vancouver and the Vancouver Whitecaps to come celebrate the success of the Surrey Champions Leadership Project with a Fair Trade soccer match!
This past weekend at the EPIC Sustainability Consumer Show, Fair Trade Vancouver truly stole the show with our Fair Trade Pavilion. From open to close, we were jam packed with thousands of visitors learning about Fair Trade.
There were a total of 18 Fair Trade exhibitors showing off their Fair Trade products. There was Fair Trade coffee from Level Ground Trading and Cafe Etico, EcoFair and Ten Thousand Villages showed off their beautiful Fair Trade handicrafts, and there was even Fair Trade wine, provided by Winds of Change. For a full list of vendors see below.
If you weren't able to make it, you can still check out the Fair Trade Pavilion by taking our tour on YouTube! Our Special Events Coordinator Mark Abbott shows you all the excitement taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
All weekend long, people had the chance to enter into exciting contests to win Fair Trade prizes. Thank you to Aeroplan, Doi Chaang, Cocoa Camino, Fibrethik and Vastu Chai for providing prizes!
Fair Trade Passport Contest
For our Fair Trade Passport contest, attendees filled out a passport with stamps from our Fair Trade mascots. To get the stamps, attendees learned about the Fair Trade product that each mascot represented.
And, the winner of 25,000 Aeroplan miles is... Crystal MacDougall!
A special thanks to Aeroplan for providing this amazing prize!
Fair Trade Colouring Contest
Here are the winners of our Fair Trade Colouring Contest! We will be putting up a slideshow shortly to showcase all the great work done by our young visitors to the Fair Trade Pavilion!
Boys 7 to 9 – Matthias
Boys 10-12 – Elias
Girls 4 to 6 – Maya
Girls 7 to 9 – Christina
Girls 10 to 12 – Emma
Fair Trade Soccer Ball Toss Contest
Here are the winners of our Fair Trade Soccer Ball Toss Contest! Kids scored points by throwing a Fair Trade soccer ball into different coloured bins.
Boys 4 to 6 –Alex
Boys 7 to 9 – Ben
Boys 10-12 – Kieran
Girls 4 to 6 – Sophie
Girls 7 to 9 – Ava
Girls 10 to 12 – Ashley
Fair Trade Lunch and Learn Business Card Draw
All weekend long people entered their business cards for the chance to win a Fair Trade Lunch and Learn Presentation with coffee for their office. The winner is Allison Bauman and her co-workers at the Tyee!
Soon Fair Trade Vancouver will present a presentation for Allison and her co-workers that will show how Fair Trade improves the lives of developing country producers.
Visible Commitment Photos
Thanks to Everyone Who Made This Happen
We would like to thank the organizers of EPIC for allowing us to put on this amazing Fair Trade Pavilion. EPIC is Western Canada's largest sustainable consumer tradeshow and eco-marketplace, and is the ideal place to tell the story of Fair Trade.
We would also like to thank all of the exhibitors who made this amazing event happen.
Finally, we would like to thank the amazing volunteers of Fair Trade Vancouver for making this dream a reality. We have heard nothing but rave reviews for all of your work!
On May 16th, Fair Trade Vancouver's executive director Jeff Geipel appeared on the Global BC Morning News. Geipel talked with Sophie Lui about Fair Trade, Vancouver's achievement of Fair Trade Town status, and the Fair Trade Pavilion about to take place at the EPIC Consumer Show, May 28th to 30th at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
