Meet West-tin: The Story Behind the New West Spotlight Mascot

For months, he has appeared in the New West Spotlight, wandered around New Westminster with maps and magnifying glasses, puzzled over local landmarks and helped thousands of people play How Well Do You Know New West?

There was just one problem.
He didn’t have a name.

Now he does.

Meet West-tin — the New West Spotlight mascot, officially named by the New West community.

It Started With a Mascot

The New West Spotlight mascot made his first regular appearance on February 13, 2026, when How Well Do You Know New West? became a daily game.

Since then, he has become a familiar face to players across New Westminster.

He has appeared with maps, an iPad, a magnifying glass and a shopping cart. He has looked puzzled, waved to detectives and helped turn a daily location-guessing game into something thousands of New Westies now recognize.

But he still didn’t have a name.

First, New West Chose Him

On June 17, New West Spotlight subscribers — along with more than 150 children at the Queensborough Children’s Festival — were invited to help choose the mascot.

Once he had officially earned the job, there was only one thing left to do.

Give him a proper name.

New West Was Asked to Name Him

Rather than choose the name ourselves, we asked the community.

And New West responded.
The first round brought in 21 different name suggestions from readers.
Those suggestions went back to newsletter subscribers, who were invited to select up to five favourites. The five names receiving the most support moved on to the final ballot.

Then came the big campaign.

For almost two weeks, the mascot appeared in different poses across Facebook and Instagram, encouraging people to vote. There were maps, magnifying glasses, puzzled expressions and plenty of reminders that somewhere at the end of all this, our nameless mascot would finally have an identity.

And New Westies took the assignment seriously.

Very seriously.

By the final day, Westie and West-tin were separated by only six votes with nine hours remaining.

When the votes were finally counted, one name came out on top.

West-tin!

A very New Westminster name for a very New Westminster mascot.

And the Winning Name Came From Liliana Castaneda

The person who first submitted the winning name was Liliana Castaneda, a faithful detective in the game.

Her suggestion survived the first round, made it through the subscriber shortlist and ultimately won the final community vote.
That made Liliana the person who gave our mascot the name he will carry from here on.

A Big Prize for One Lucky Voter

Everyone who voted in the final round was also entered into a draw for a major prize package.

Scott Gerroir was the lucky winner.

The prize package was made possible by an amazing group of local businesses and community supporters, led by
Full Basket Butcher, our Champion Sponsor.

along with Lila Day, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones
Tourism New Westminster,
Chris’s Flowers,
Sunday Funday Bingo,
World of Art,
MP Jake Sawatzky.

The package also included a New West Spotlight mascot T-shirt.

It was our way of turning the naming campaign into something even bigger — a celebration of local businesses, community participation and shopping local.

More Than a Name

What made the naming of West-tin special was how much of it belonged to the community.

New West helped choose the mascot.

New West submitted the names.

Subscribers narrowed the field.

The community cast the final votes.

Local businesses helped build the prize package.

And one New Westie, Liliana Castaneda, supplied the name that stuck.

That seems especially fitting for a mascot whose job is to accompany thousands of people as they try to figure out just how well they really know their city.So after months of appearing throughout the New West Spotlight without a proper name, he can finally introduce himself.

New West, meet West-tin!

We have a feeling you’ll be seeing quite a lot of him.

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