Our job at V.I.A. isn't to deliver bummer news to you, in fact it's very obviously the opposite; we celebrate all of the things that make Vancouver great, with the hope that doing so will not only connect you more with your city but also encourage more awesomeness all around.
It's likely that you already heard the news of Vancouver's Cory Monteith passing this weekend. A collective friend to all of us, a fan of Vancouver who returned to his home here as often as he could, he first appeared on V.I.A. in 2010 after he sent us this photo below from the Glee set at Paramount Studios in LA. It remains one of my personal favourite HIGH FIVING CELEBRITIES photos, mostly because we cold-called the dude on Twitter and he humoured us. He had over a million followers yet still took time to spread some cheer in Vancouver.
When we INTERVIEWED him about what makes Vancouver awesome Cory replied, "For me, the number of different shades of awesome packed into a relatively small square footage is what makes Vancouver truly amazing. Sea, mountains, wilderness, city... and all the different cultural influences. Everywhere else in the world you can find awesome things if you know where to look, but in Vancouver it’s probably across the street."
One of the last photos of Cory, taken at Project Limelight's East of Main Cafe last week
Cory's lasting legacy in our city will be the kids at Project Limelight which he CHAMPIONED and raised awareness and money for. Mentioning Michael J. Fox as his favourite Vancouverite, he said "[Michael's] 'incurable optimism' is a moral example for us all.". We hope that Cory's friends, family, all of his fans and especially the kids at Project Limelight, remember him for his smile, his positivity, and the honest way in which he represented himself - as well as Canada - to the world. I know we will.
High five, dude.
