that I, myself, am that event or business. I get asked about stalls at the Cloverdale Flea Market all the time.
VV: WHAT ARE THE THREE THINGS YOU THINK EVERY TOURIST SHOULD EXPERIENCE IN VANCOUVER? RB: Stanley Park (not just the seawall but also the trails), Granville Island Market (there are many markets around the world but this is our own West Coast smorgasbord of seafood,
local produce, and so on), and one of the local mountains—Grouse being the most acces- sible. Take the gondola up and see the region from the sky.
VV: MOST HATED THING ABOUT VAN- COUVERITES? RB: People who walk under awnings with their umbrellas. A good Vancouverite wouldn’t even use an umbrella—our skin is made of Gore-Tex, isn’t it?
VANCOUVER IS AWESOME:
THE BRAND BUILDER WEBSITE:
WWW.VANCOUVERISAWESOME.COM AKA: BOB KRONBAUER, PRESIDENT AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
When Bob Kronbauer tired of all the negativity surrounding Vancouver, he decided to take matters into his own hands by creating a website that would only reference the city’s positive attributes. “It was right around the time that the ‘No Fun City’ moniker was given to our city,” he recalls. Having just marked the website’s fourth year online, Kronbauer is now eager to expand upbeat
news across the country—Whistler is Awesome (
whistlerisawesome.com) launched earlier this year while Galiano Island and Toronto versions are set to go live over coming months. “It’s sort of like a franchise,” Kronbauer says. “Tat’s the future of it, to set up in all the major centres across Canada.”
PHOTO: BOB KRONBAUER | CREDIT JOEL LEVY
VV: ON AVERAGE, HOW MANY HOURS A WEEK WOULD YOU SAY YOU SPEND MAINTAINING YOUR WEBSITE? BK: Roughly 60 hours go into everything I do for Vancouver Is Awesome. I run the business side as well as serve as editor-in-chief and creative director, so I have a lot of respon- sibilities. We also have an army of about 30 volunteer editors and contributors; it’s not a single person writing all of our posts. It really is a team effort.
VV: BESIDES YOUR OWN, WHAT OTHER LOCAL BLOG DO LIKE AND WHY? BK: I like
Miss604.com because while Re- becca Bollwitt covers some of the same things
that we do, she’s friendly competition. She’s just a really good person and I feel good about the way we share the space. Tere’s no need to be cutthroat when what you’re really trying to do is build community and show people great stuff in their city, even if it is a business.
VV: AT WHAT POINT DID YOU REALIZE YOUR WEBSITE WAS A SUCCESS? BK: When it became popular enough that I had to figure out a way for it to start generat- ing revenue so that I could justify all of the time spent maintaining it.
VV: WHAT WOULD BE YOUR BEST PIECE OF ADVICE TO EMERGING BLOGGERS? BK: Don’t start a blog because you think
it could make you money. If it happens to eventually turn into a job, that is a really, re- ally rare thing.
VV: WHAT DO YOU MOST LOVE ABOUT VANCOUVERITES? BK: Tat at times we band together to come up with creative solutions to big problems.
May 2012 VANCOUVER VIEW 41
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