The V3H.com - Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam

We are a few days into 2010 and the leftover turkey that has kept me napping throughout the holiday season has finally vacated our fridge. As we come out of the holiday season, it’s a fun time to look back at the year that was. From this website’s inception in April to the green Christmas we just enjoyed, it’s been a great first 9 months for us.

So without further ado, here are the top 5 stories of 2009, as voted by the number of pageviews.

5. Port Moody Outdoor Pools Open

While summer may seem like a long long time ago, the middle of June brought us some sunshine and the opening of the outdoor pools in Port Moody. Just remember, we’re only 6 months away from outdoor splashing once again.

4. Federal By-Election in New Westminster-Coquitlam

On November 9th, the Federal By-Election was held in the riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam. We published interviews with all the candidates in the weeks leading up to the election. When Diana Dilworth became a little hard to find by the local media, our interview with her became quite popular. In the end, Fin Donnelly parlayed his popularity as a Coquitlam councillor and his formidable river swimming skills to secure the riding for the NDP.

3. Christmas Lights in the V3H

One of the best things about Christmas are the light displays. When the days get short, there’s nothing better than seeing a street lit up with coloured festive lights. So with the help of my daughter Hannah, we set out to see as many houses as we could and make a multimedia map with pictures and video. The videos and map were a big hit, so much so that we also made a map for where to dispose of your Christmas trees. Look for more features like that in 2010.

2. Canada Day in and around the V3H

The biggest pageview day in the history of theV3H.com was Canada Day, when almost 1000 of you came by to find a Canada Day party. Needed some Canada Day fun? We had you covered.

1. White Pine Beach Closed to Swimming

On July 17th, Metro Vancouver announced a swimming advisory at White Pine Beach, due to higher than usual fecal coliform levels in the lake. The next morning, we put up a small post about the advisory. Over the next few days, 1,892 of you read the article and generated a sizeable comment stream. On July 21st, the advisory was taken down, but the article remained popular throughout the summer. Our theory is that there really hasn’t been a lot written about White Pine Beach online, so to this day when I Google “White Pine Beach”, our article is still near the top of the search results. Goes to show that when you’re writing online, you never really know what’s going to interest people until you see the results.

Thanks to all of you for your comments, suggestions, and for coming back and visiting again and again. In 2009 we welcomed 7,951 unique visitors and had over 20,000 pageviews. We couldn’t do it without you. If you like what you read here, consider joining our mailing list to get our brand of local coverage delivered to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thanks so much for a great 2009, and we look forward to meeting more of you and making more connections in 2010.