Burnaby wins Creative Cities Impact Award for special event planning

The City of Burnaby has received a Creative Cities Impact Award in the Special Events Process category for its approach to event planning, coordination and safety. The award recognizes the City’s work to improve planning and service delivery through stronger internal processes and collaboration across departments. Streamlined approvals and consistent event safety practices have strengthened the City’s ability to deliver safe, welcoming community events.

Burnaby hosts a wide range of events each year. To make event planning requirements easier to navigate, the City worked to improve the information and support available to organizers.

A key part of that work was establishing the Burnaby Event Safety & Security Team (BESST), bringing together expertise from different City departments. Through the team, the City developed a coordinated event safety framework, including an event safety plan template and a set of resources to help organizers plan and deliver events safely and effectively.

The enhanced process gives community event organizers centralized information, clearer guidance and more consistent support throughout planning. By reducing administrative barriers and improving access to resources, the City says it has made the experience more user-friendly for organizers while strengthening the local event environment.

The recognition reflects the City’s commitment to continuous improvement and service excellence, with the aim of ensuring residents and visitors can continue to enjoy high-quality community events that are safe, inclusive and memorable.

Photo: Suzan Henke Photography Download the image: https://burnaby.widen.net/s/cpbnv275rz/lois-sawson---suzan-henke-photography