Most local retailers are going online. Cannabis can’t. While other industries have been put through the coronavirus grinder, the worldwide pandemic has been good for cannabis sales. In the context of a pandemic, SpiritLeaf Jasper’s Dave Ireland says cannabis shops are a needed resource for a lot of ...

When the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Jasper in March, VideoStop owner Kevin Lazzari wasn’t taking any chances. As soon as he heard the news, Lazzari dead bolted the door to his Patricia Street business. “Those first few days and weeks were crazy,” he recalled. “No one knew how risky thin...

Three minutes. That’s how long it took Celina Frisson, otherwise known as @thecreativetraveller , to sell out her latest stock of hand-painted ceramic mugs. On December 5 at 3 p.m., Frisson opened her online shop. By 3:03 p.m., 50 or so pieces of pottery had been scooped up. Frisson, a painter and g...

When Gage LeBlanc tries something new, the 15-year-old goes big. BRING ON THE BUMPS // Gage LeBlanc stars in the upcoming All-Round Champion, a Reality TV series premiering on TVOntario. Catch the series starting on January 6. // BOB COVEY The first time LeBlanc tried freestyle skiing, for example, ...

Jasper’s Director of Protective Services, Greg Van Tighem, has notified the Municipality of Jasper of his impending retirement. The Jasper Local caught up with the Fire Chief to reflect on a career dedicated to serving others. By Bob Covey In 1979, when Greg Van Tighem showed up in Jasper for the fi...

The Jasper Volunteer Fire Brigade has seen the plans for the Jasper Skatepark project and now they want to Shove-it forward. At a recent meeting, the men and women of the JVFB decided they would match new community donations up to $50,000 “It seems like the project has been stalled,” JVFB member Sea...

Two more IRL (In Real Life) events in Jasper are going virtual. For 25 years, every December, the Chaba Theatre would be packed for a night of mountain movies when the world-famous Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival would roll into town. On the night of the show, a rainbow of puffy jacket-wear...

If you search for Jasper in Google Maps’ Street View and zoom in on Patricia Circle you can still see the boards at Patricia Circle Rink, or Pat Circle, as it is known colloquially. Although it’s gone now, the tiny outdoor rink had been around for many decades. If they could talk, the disassembled b...

Jasper’s incoming Chief Administrative Officer doesn’t see local government as politics.  “Government is about public service,” Bill Given says. “Partisanship doesn’t benefit anybody.” He’s speaking from experience. Now 43-years-old, at 24, Given was the youngest person to ever be elected to public ...

Last issue The Jasper Local had a bit of a field day commenting on the look of Jasper’s new entrance signs. The comments and emojis poured in on social media; everyone had a good chuckle. But our editorial was missing some context. This edition, we report on how the signs came to be in the first pla...

Electric Vehicle drivers are banging the drum for more high speed charging stations in Jasper. Bert Hogendoorn, from Sechelt, B.C., says that the Yellowhead Highway in Alberta is not EV-friendly and that as a result, more and more EV drivers are choosing to avoid the corridor altogether. “Jasper rem...

Back in 2018, JFI Foods, Jasper’s family-run wholesale grocery suppliers, was rolling. Business was good. Their fiscal year was trending to be the company’s strongest ever and the owners and employees were enjoying the November downtime before the inevitable Christmas rush. Some of them even snuck i...

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign. Can we talk about the new signs that adorn the east and west entrances of our town? “Adorn” might not actually be the right word—that term usually applies to things which make something more attractive. Regretfully, Jasper’s new entrance signs do the opposite—like gi...

Parks Canada wants to know where Jasper municipal council stands on Private Home Accommodations (PHAs) in the community. A letter from Jasper National Park’s Realty and Municipal Services Manager, Moira McKinnon, dated September 30, appeared on the latest Committee of the Whole meeting agenda, along...

It’s municipal budget time and 2021 looks like it’s going to be a doozy. We knew this was coming. After council made big cuts to last year’s budget in order to cushion the blow to Jasper ratepayers’ wallets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was going to be no other way out of the hole than...

Jasperites could be facing a 20 to 30 per cent increase over the 2020 municipal tax requisition in 2021. That was the hard pill mayor and councillors were swallowing at the October 27 Committee of the Whole meeting, where administrative staff asked for council’s direction as they worked to produce a...

The sale of Jasper’s largest apartment dwelling to the largest landlord in Canada has triggered Parks Canada to ask tenants of that property to prove their eligible residency. However, the agency is assuring Jasperites that anyone laid off due to COVID-19 or experiencing seasonal unemployment will n...

Destanne Norris has long-known that death is part of living.  However, it’s taken her decades to fully understand that idea. Norris lost her daughter to a tragic accident in 1995. Leah was just 19-months-old when she fell into the Maligne River and was swept away. “She just got away from our eyes,” ...

When ultrarunner Kim Bessler left her truck at the Signal Mountain parking lot on the morning of August 9, she was crossing her fingers for what the majority hikers, runners and backcountry campers hope for before setting off on Jasper’s famous Skyline Trail: good weather, dry trails and a nice bree...

Social media hasn’t been the same since @Jasper_Local_Memes (no affiliation) took to Instagram. The account specializes in satirizing life in Jasper, giving a celebratory face-palm to lost tourists, rookie raft guides and ill-advised adventurers alike. We interviewed the mysterious person behind the...