Did You Know? FVEPA’s History

Fraser Valley Event Planning Association came about because of continuing education event planning class that was held in 2007.

When the class was over, a few of the students and the teacher joined forces to start FVEPA!  The group started out with 9 members, but soon reduced to a committed 5 members: Barb Nelson, Sarah Bolton, Teresa Cahill-Closs, George Merry and Lynn O’Brien. These 5 people were the dedicated few who nurtured the group into the vibrant community it is today; meeting in each other’s kitchens to create the association and do the legwork required for legitimacy.  After eight months of work, the paperwork was complete and the association formed!  The first few years of FVEPA’s monthly meetings were held in one place: The meeting room at Barnes Harley-Davidson in Langley.

FVEPA was created to bring like-minded people together within the event industry to grow their businesses through networking and relationship building.  After seven years, FVEPA’s membership has grown from the original 5 to over 90 people!  One of the goals of the association has been to create a scholarship for students pursuing education in the event industry, and as of last year, that goal became reality.

Today, FVEPA holds monthly mix and mingle meetings on the last Tuesday of every month.  At these meetings our members and guests get the chance to visit and learn about new venues, meet other event industry professionals, and continue building existing relationships with peers in the event industry.  FVEPA is a wonderful group not only because of its continuing mission to connect event industry professionals, but because of the quality of the people and businesses we have in our membership.  We are looking forward to our most productive year in networking and in business yet: see you in September!