logo
  • Explore
    • Local Events
    • Local News
    • Local Organisations
  • News
    • Community
    • Local Government
    • Sports
    • Alberta Politics
    • Opinion
    • Deke
  • Peaks & Valleys
    • Wildlife
    • Snow Sports
    • Hiking and Climbing
    • Biking
    • Fishing
  • Culture
    • Jasper Arts & Culture
    • Local Dining
    • Local Literature
  • Jasper History
    • Explore
      • Local Events
      • Local News
      • Local Organisations
    • News
      • Community
      • Local Government
      • Sports
      • Alberta Politics
      • Opinion
      • Deke
    • Peaks & Valleys
      • Wildlife
      • Snow Sports
      • Hiking and Climbing
      • Biking
      • Fishing
    • Culture
      • Jasper Arts & Culture
      • Local Dining
      • Local Literature
    • Jasper History
After 96 years, Jasper’s Chaba Theatre shows its last picture
Arts and Culture, Jasper Arts & Culture, Jasper History, News
By Bob Covey
Sunday, March 6, 2022
After 96 years, Jasper’s Chaba Theatre shows its last picture

Dwain Wacko remembers clearly his father cleaning out the “clinkers”—the parts of the coal that won’t burn—from the old boilers of the original Chaba Theatre.

The memory stretches back 69 years, but it’s there. It was 1953, and Wacko was three-years-old. It’s his first memory of The Chaba Theatre—it’s his first memory period—but an arguably more meaningful memory, Wacko said, from about the same time, is his recollection of his father hauling up the new projectors he’d just purchased for the theatre. In those days, before the Chaba’s first major renovation (there have been two, in 1954 and 1989), there was a steep, narrow staircase that led up to the projection room.

“I remember him rasslin’ those projectors up the staircase,” Wacko said. 

Incredibly, those projectors lasted until the The Chaba Theatre converted from film projectors to digital media players in 2011. 

Jasper’s Chaba Theatre was first built in 1926. Through depressions, world wars and pandemics, the building at 604 Connaught Drive has been a landmark of family entertainment. On February 24, 2022, The Chaba showed its last film. // JASPER YELLOWHEAD MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES

“They were rebuilt several times,” Wacko said of the workhorse projectors. “They were modified to accommodate new lens technologies, but they were mechanical and easy to maintain.”

The same can not be said about keeping a small theatre open in a remote town, mid-pandemic, in the Canadian Rockies. On February 24, 2022, after 94 years of bringing entertainment to delighted audiences, Jasper’s Chaba Theatre showed its final film. Wacko was marking the occasion in as celebratory fashion as he could muster, but there was a melancholic air to the evening. Jasperites of all generations, many of them having come-of-age watching feature films, Hollywood blockbusters and independent cinema at the Connaught Drive cornerstone, packed the 300-seat, double-screen theatre for one last show.

As patrons bought their tickets, got an arm around their buckets of popcorn and were ushered down the aisles for the final time, they paid their respect to Wacko and his staff. There were handshakes and hugs, and after the audiences were seated, tears and tributes. Wacko was presented with a thank you gift from Orlanda Tassone, who worked at The Chaba for 17 of her 33 years. The gift was a framed photo of the Chaba’s handsome facade, with a photoshopped marquee. The text read “Dwain Wacko in The Chaba Theatre 1972-2022.”

Dwain Wacko was presented with a commemorative photograph by staff and former employees on The Chaba Theatre’s final showing. // BOB COVEY

“That’s very special,” Wacko said, somewhat lost for words.

In his first year of ownership, in 1972, Wacko was a 22-year-old UofA student who had come back to Jasper from a summer working with the Northwest Territories’ Department of Public Works. He had a surveying job on the yet-to-be-built Dempster Highway. The work was invigorating, but his father had just passed; his mother needed help in Jasper.

“My mother was floundering a bit,” Wacko said. “I decided to get involved.”

As a teenager, Wacko had no interest in the theatre business. Now, with his father gone and having committed himself, he had no one to teach it to him. Gradually, however, he familiarized himself with the equipment—not just the projectors, but the carbon-arc lamphouses, which were on their last legs.

“I learned by making mistakes,” he said.

He was figuring out the theatre’s operations, but Wacko was also figuring out that The Chaba was an opportunity. Soon, he realized he could be happy at the theatre.

“Closing up one night, I remember skipping down the aisle, thinking ‘I’m going to make this mine,’” he said.

One of the first films Wacko brought in that summer of ’72 was Deliverance, the controversial, violent, Oscar-winning backwoods-thriller starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight. Asked if he ever wrestled with bringing in risqué films, Wacko shrugged.

“I’m in the entertainment business,” he said.

On Thursday February 24 patrons flocked to The Chaba for one final show, and one final bucket of popcorn (plus a refill). // BOB COVEY PHOTOS

And unlike say, the automobile repair business or the barrister business, generally, Wacko was selling something that his customers genuinely enjoyed. That was gratifying.

“When I see the crowd come in the doors, or I come up the aisle and see everyone focused on that picture, it gives me a lot of pleasure,” he said.

Not that the success of the movie was always guaranteed. When his father operated The Chaba, salesmen from Columbia Pictures and Warner Brothers would come to Jasper with a two month, three-titles-per-week program to peddle. As the industry evolved, however, the motion picture agents faded away, and clients such as The Chaba would have to buy a program directly from the film distributors. The problem was, those distributors didn’t travel. The closest offices were in Calgary—too far for Wacko to preview the films he wanted to show.

“I was having to make decisions on films I knew nothing about,” he said. “If something bombed, you were stuck with it.”

In response, he cut out the two month programs and regained significant control over the quality of films he could show. Hitting his stride in the 1980s, Wacko remembers fondly the reception audiences gave The Big Chill and Pretty Woman. 

“I really enjoyed L.A. Confidential,” Wacko said. “That is a fabulous mystery.”

Less of a mystery, however, is why a small town theatre is no longer a sustainable business venture. The industry had been weakened by digital streaming services, technological advancements in home theatre systems and the general evolution in the way people watch movies for more than a decade; the pandemic dealt a final death blow to The Chaba.

“Coming to terms with it was very stressful [but] I found I must move on,” Wacko said in November, when he decided to sell.

The new owners—Socrates Korogonas, Brett Ireland and Alex Derksen of Bear Hill Brewing, the parent company of Jasper Brewing Co.—had their change-of-use for the building approved by Parks Canada earlier this year. They have plans to put a food and beverage establishment, augmented by a retail outlet, in the space. Korogonas has said despite the group not being able to find a viable path forward for a cinema, the shareholders want to respect its legacy.

“It’s a landmark in the community,” Korogonas said. “We all grew up with the Chaba.”

No one more so than Wacko himself, of course. On Thursday night, as he swept up stray popcorn from the lobby floor for the final time, a patron rushed from the washroom back into the theatre. Wacko’s broom stopped momentarily. He smiled at the guest from behind his fabric face mask.

“Enjoy,” he said.  

Dwain Wacko surrounded by his staff on closing night. // BOB COVEY

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

Articles You May LIke ›
Most Read ›
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
News
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 5, 2023
Jasper National Park Superintendent Alan Fehr has declined a private offer to rebuild a washed-out bridge at Simon Creek, a structure which would allo...
this is a test
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Local Government
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Bob Covey 
Monday, May 15, 2023
West Yellowhead’s NDP candidate Fred Kreiner has elected not to participate in Jasper’s scheduled all-candidates forum. “I’ve decided and the NDP part...
this is a test
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Community
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Bob Covey 
Monday, April 24, 2023
A helicopter transporting Natural Resources Canada glacier surveyors had a hard landing on an icefield in Banff National Park April 14. The accident l...
this is a test
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Opinion
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Re: Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper's superintendent (May 5, 2023) Dear Editor, This is an excellent article in The Jasper Local. I am...
this is a test
Latest ›
Letter: Maintaining the Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail
Opinion
Letter: Maintaining the Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail
Thursday, May 18, 2023
re: Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent (May 5, 2023)  Dear Editor, The Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail is a Canadian icon ...
this is a test
Store manager leaving a legacy of customer care
Store manager leaving a legacy of customer care
Bob Covey 
Thursday, May 18, 2023
Rick Lagace has stocked his last shelf. The store manager at TGP Your Jasper Grocer is retiring. Over hotdogs and pop in the TGP parking lot, Lagace s...
this is a test
Forty and fabulous: Mountain Air an OG of Jasper retail
Business
Forty and fabulous: Mountain Air an OG of Jasper retail
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Mountain Air stands as one of Jasper’s most unique, well-established shopping locations. Having celebrated the store’s 40th anniversary recently, the ...
this is a test
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Local Government
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Bob Covey 
Monday, May 15, 2023
West Yellowhead’s NDP candidate Fred Kreiner has elected not to participate in Jasper’s scheduled all-candidates forum. “I’ve decided and the NDP part...
this is a test

NEXT ARTICLE

Six Jasper Hockey League teams to settle differences on Super Sunday

News, Sports

Most Read ›
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
News
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 5, 2023
Jasper National Park Superintendent Alan Fehr has declined a private offer to rebuild a washed-out bridge at Simon Creek, a structure which would allo...
this is a test
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Local Government
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Bob Covey 
Monday, May 15, 2023
West Yellowhead’s NDP candidate Fred Kreiner has elected not to participate in Jasper’s scheduled all-candidates forum. “I’ve decided and the NDP part...
this is a test
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Community
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Bob Covey 
Monday, April 24, 2023
A helicopter transporting Natural Resources Canada glacier surveyors had a hard landing on an icefield in Banff National Park April 14. The accident l...
this is a test
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Opinion
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Re: Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper's superintendent (May 5, 2023) Dear Editor, This is an excellent article in The Jasper Local. I am...
this is a test
Latest ›
Perfect pitch: Jasper golfer an ambassador for women and deaf athletes
News
Perfect pitch: Jasper golfer an ambassador for women and deaf athletes
Women’s Golf Day at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club is June 6
Bob Covey 
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Dressed in Sunday red, balanced perfectly on her follow-through and watching her golf ball arc above a stand of aspens on the hardest ranked hole at S...
this is a test
Team Orange has the blues: Low voter turnout in Neverland
Alberta Politics
Team Orange has the blues: Low voter turnout in Neverland
Bob Covey 
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Despite pundits calling this election the most important in Alberta’s history, only one in four eligible Jasperites made the trip down to the Jasper A...
this is a test
Undying loyalty to political parties (and hockey teams) is bad for Alberta
Editorial
Undying loyalty to political parties (and hockey teams) is bad for Alberta
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 26, 2023
Confession time: for as long as I can remember, I’ve been a Calgary Flames fan. It’s not my fault! When you’re eight-years-old and your dad is dancing...
this is a test
GYPSD trustees question Alberta charter schools
GYPSD trustees question Alberta charter schools
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 26, 2023
Grande Yellowhead Public School Division’s board of trustees is speaking out against publicly-funded charter schools. In an opinion piece run in regio...
this is a test

Copyright © The Jasper Local

This site complies with Jasper requirements
Contact us
Privacy Policy
Advertise With Us
About The Jasper Local
Accessibility Policy
This site complies with Jasper requirements
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise With Us
  • About The Jasper Local
  • Accessibility Policy

Follow Us

Advertise with us

Measurable, targeted, local. Email example@thejasperlocal.com

ePaper
coogle_play
app_store

© Copyright The Jasper Local