40 the new 30? Recapping the "40 Under Forty" Awards

The Cascade Web Development crew had a great time last Thursday celebrating Ben McKinley's nomination to the Portland Business Journal's 2010 "40 Under Forty" list.

The event was a huge success as Portland's future leaders came together at the Gerding Theater of the Armory for an excellent evening. Kudos to the Portland Business Journal for putting together a memorable night for all of us at CWD.

Here are a few photos of the celebration (sorry about the poor quality, blame the iPhone):

Lobby of Gerding Theater at the Armory

Ben accepting his award from Senator Ron Wyden

CWD group (Left to Right: Kyle, Paul, Fritz, Stephen, Ben, Christi)

CWD's VIP Trip to the Sokol Blosser Winery

Last week, a few of us from CWD were invited to the Sokol Blosser winery in Dundee, OR to take a tour of the vineyard. Immediately after walking onto the grounds, you receive a homey, one-of-the-family type vibes and that was true throughout the day as everyone at the winery could not have been more hospitable and welcoming. Sokol Blosser is family owned and the heritage was evident throughout the tour. Aside from amazing wine, they are also on the forefront of instilling green technologies and sustainability efforts in the Dundee area.

Thanks to everyone at Sokol Blosser for the tour.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

Their tasting room and community center from the parking lot

The community room

Bottling Sokol Blosser Wine

Information Session in the Cellar

What the Sokol Blosser Vineyard look like on a good day (i.e. not the day we were there)

For more information on Sokol Blosser visit their site at sokolblosser.com.

Dreamwork's "How to Train Your Dragon" sweepstakes

If you've been watching the Winter Olympics you've surely seen the previews for Dreamwork's new animated 3D movie, "How to Train Your Dragon".

"How to Train Your Dragon" is an action/comedy (think Shrek) about Hiccup, a young Viking, who befriends the dragon he is training to fight. The film has been receiving a ton of press and great reviews, and Cascade Web Development recently got in on the action.

CWD designed the contest and sweepstakes site for the film to help promote the movie before its March release. The contest entails sending a video of your best dragon taming skills (a few YouTube sensations in the making). Three grand prize winners will receive a trip for 4 to LA for the World Premiere. You can also register to win a private premiere party through the site which would be an awesome kids birthday party for a theater here in Portland or around the US.

Visit the site, submit your skills, and enter. Happy taming.

CWD Plans a Valentines Party with Vh1

First of all, Happy (belated) Valentine's Day. Aside from planning our own love day (I wouldn't call it last minute but it was pretty close), Cascade Web Development was able to help 150 Vh1 Insiders have their own Valentine's Day parties.

The Vh1 Loves Me Party site was created in collaboration with Boston-based AMP Agency for Vh1 Insiders chosen to throw bashes to watch the channel's block of guilty pleasure reality shows. These 150 insiders were given Vh1 Loves Me decorations, party favors, games, and, everyone's favorite white elephant gift, Snuggies to help spread their Vh1 love with their friends. Party goers were encouraged to take pictures and post their Valentine's Day moments on the Vh1 Loves Me Party website with the rest of the Insiders.

(Sorry, Cascade Web Development wasn't chosen otherwise we'd post some awesome pictures of us in Snuggies)

AMP came up with a great marketing idea and promotional tool to help their loyal fans celebrate Valentine's Day. The project was a ton of fun to work on and it turned out great.

CWD's Ben McKinley on Portland's 40 under Forty 2010 List

Look out Brad Pitt.

Ben McKinley, Cascade Web Development founder, was recently nominated to the Portland Business Journal's annual "40 under Forty" list of notable business and community figures in the Rose City. He will be honored at a reception on February 18, 2010 at the Gerding Theater at the Armory. If you'd like to join us in congratulating Ben and enjoy a great night out, please register here through the Portland Business Journal.

I'll provide more information after the reception (so check back in a few weeks). In the meantime, I found a post from the Silicon Florist, a blog about NW start-ups, which provides an opinion about the type of individuals nominated.

Plant an Evergreen with CWD and Friends of Trees

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! (if you have the Captain Planet theme song in your head this post will be much cooler).

Friends of Trees a Portland non prof, is helping Cascade Web Development launch our Plant an Evergreen campaign.

Through this campaign, CWD will make a donation (on behalf of the client) to Friends of Trees for each new client relationship forged through our Evergreen CMS platform. Our goal of the Plant an Evergreen campaign is to celebrate new client partnerships and symbolize their growth over time while supporting our environment as well. Each donation will go toward the planting and maintenance of a young evergreen tree here in Portland.

We're stoked to have the Plant an Evergreen program up and running as the seeds were planted (it was too easy, I couldn't help myself) a while back. Our developers coined the phrase "planting an evergreen" after referring to it each time they set up a client's Evergreen account. Since then, the whole light bulb effect occurred, and we've developed an identity (much thanks goes to our graphic artist for our campaign logo) to bring this all to life. It has been great collaborating with Friends of Trees, and we hope everyone is as excited about this idea as we all are.
If you're familiar with CWD and have checked out our blog before, you know that our business operation is as green as Kermit (even before it was cool). This campaign is just another extension of that business philosophy, and we think its an awesome way to promote growth, both economically and environmentally.

For 20 years, Friends of Trees has encouraged the development of the greater Portland area by implementing green space initiatives, neighborhood tree programs, and discounted tree offerings. The Gift Tree program allows you to purchase a tree or grove of trees (which I recently learned is 6 trees) for another and have it planted in their honor. If you're interested in this or any of Friends of Trees' programs or volunteer opportunities please visit friendsoftrees.org