But before we get to that...the West End and Kits farmers markets start this weekend! (Trout Lake's been on for a couple weeks already) Details on the www.eatlocal.org site.

Site redesign still pending, I thought it was about time to bring up some updates on a few of our favourite local companies:

• Chi Cake is now available at Capers on Robson and Wholefoods, through SPUD, and at Edible BC - a little birdie told me that Edible BC also carries runs of new test products, such as their FREAKING AMAZING vegan gluten-free nanaimo bars - trust me, they are well worth the hunt!
• Salt Spring Gelato products are also available at Capers now - a little scoop of that with some Chi Cake? Don't mind if I do!
• Nuba's Hastings St. location has moved across the street into the Dominion Building. They've done an amazing reno to the space, and it's a lot larger than their old location, allowing them to accommodate more people, host live music Wednesday and Thursday evenings, do brunch buffets on special occasions, and add some new items to the menu (fresh squeezed juices, fair trade coffee).

I'll leave you with some photos of the new Nuba, but you've gotta go see it for yourself!

I'm exhausted from an excellent BarCamp Vancouver which took course over the past two days--met lots of great new people, including lots of local tech/web business owners. I want to thank everyone who came, and everyone who has visited SpendLocally.ca and sent me such great supportive emails over the past few days. Mysteriously over the course of the weekend, a Google search for 'spend locally' has taken the site from unfindable to #2. I wouldn't have realized, but that's how Sherry of dsmBuzz found the site, and you should check out her blog (see below)!

Expect a new profile once I recover some much needed energy/sleep. Till then, two (actually the first two) new resources have been added to the Resources page:

Portland Buy Local (check out their "Why Buy Local" page for a great explanation of the benefits of supporting local businesses)

Portland Buy Local is a campaign of the Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance. Our mission is to support locally owned, independent businesses in Portland, to maintain our unique community character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, build community economic strength, and prevent the displacement of community-based businesses by national and global chains. (from Portland Buy Local)

dsmBuzz (features a great blog on independent businesses)

dsmBUZZ is a grassroots initiative that exists to promote the efforts of locally owned businesses in central Iowa. Our mission is to be a resource for residents and visitors interested in finding out about the uniquely independent businesses in our community. We provide a collective voice for the buy local movement to encourage consumers to support their locally owned entrepreneurial neighbors. (from dsmBuzz)

Here we go! Just in time for BarCamp Vancouver, I think I've got all the kinks worked out and the first post is going up! Let me know if you find anything funky (ie. broken) on the site and subscribe to the RSS so you can find out about all the great local businesses that are profiled!

If there's a local business you'd like me to profile on the site, drop me a line!

Ariane