Warmest Thanks from the 2007 Vancouver Orchid Festival! The Vancouver Orchid Festival - Bloom for the Cure was held at VanDusen Botanical Garden's Floral Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on March 31 and April 1, 2007. This fundraising event helped raise money and awareness for the Pacific Northwest Judging Center Vancouver Supplemental judging site (located in Richmond) and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The event was an opportunity to promote and to inform the public about the services of the judging site as well as support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. This was a new endeavour to have two different communities synthesize into one event and it seemed like a natural thing to do‹people helping one another. Visitors were given information about the judging site and a pink ribbon in support of breast cancer research. Pink resonated in the floral displays both inside and out. The cherry blossom trees were in full bloom throughout the streets and greenspaces of Vancouver. The silent auction area was swathed in large pink velvet table cloths; the lush floral display of pink phalaenopsis plants and cut dendrobiums donated by Kirby Floral Inc. (Burnaby); an educational display in soft pink by the Orchid Species Preservation Foundation (Edmonton), and a sumptuous three-tiered cake coloured in chartreuse and decorated in pink cattleyas made entirely of sugar by the Little Dream Bakeshop (Vancouver) were a few of the attractions drawing guests from the bustling orchid plant sales area. With the generous support of orchid vendors (local and international), volunteers, sponsors, local radio stations and television media, over 540 orchid lovers attended this inaugural event during the sunny, spring weekend. Silent auction items were donated by the participating vendors as well as sponsors‹growing kits, orchid plants, botanical art and jewelry were just some of the auction items. Proceeds generated from the admission and the silent auction benefited the two organizations. The Vancouver Orchid Festival - Bloom for the Cure raised a total of $3,145.00 Cdn. The Vancouver Judging Center and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation will each receive a cheque in the amount of $1,572.50 Cdn. It is with our warmest thanks to the vendors, volunteers, sponsors and media in making this inaugural event a blooming success! A very special thanks to botanical artist Gerard Brender A Brandis of Stratford, Ontario for the use of his fantastic engraving of Trichopilia suavis. Many thanks to GardenWorks and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for their continued support and their donations. We look forward to our next event blooming in 2008! Efforts in fundraising, whether small or large, contributes to a much greater canvas by spreading the pleasure of orchids and helping causes close to us. They are our passions in life and what makes us passionate. The Vancouver Orchid Festival expresses thanks to all the volunteers who generously volunteered their time, energy and spirit for this year's fundraiser. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Pacific Northwest Judging Center would like to thank the support of our sponsors, vendors and donors for this special event. SPONSORS Gerard Brender A Brandis Kirby Floral Inc. GardenWorks Forestview Gardens Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Little Dream Bakeshop VENDORS Bryan Emery Orchids Windowsill Orchids - Sue Christison Heronridge Orchid Shop Somerville Orchids Coco Diva Forestview Gardens Ray Sword Orchids BC Will-Gro D & M Market and Florist Chanthorn Orchids Orchis Floriculturing - Taiwan C & K Happy Farms Jonathan Littau Wild Orchids - Ursula Krol Gerard Brender A Brandis Richmond Orchid Club Orchid Species Preservation Foundation MEDIA Fairchild Media Group 104.9 Clear FM 96.9 Jack FM Tourism Vancouver INDIVIDUALS Don Bednarczyk Betty Berthiaume Tawnya Brown Gary Carter Terry Groszeibl Donna Hamel Jerry Keenan Martin and Mary Kozinsky David Kirby Raymond Lee Eddy and Sharon Ly Sean Martin Erin Milliard Mark Nakamoto Chris Ostenstad Scott Pearce Abu Salleh Charlotte Teggin Russell Volker Please note that every effort has been made to ensure the volunteer and donor lists cited are current. If the names of any volunteers or donors have been omitted in error, we apologize and express our sincere thanks to them.