Jasper’s Jimmy Gillese and his crew at Stellar Descents staked out a little whitewater history July 8 when they made the first ever commercial rafting trip on the Doré River near McBride, B.C.  While local rivers were at full volume last month, lower flows of visitors meant Gillese was able to get h...

While Jasper’s downtown receives piecemeal patio treatment as individual businesses owners attempt to revitalize their restaurants, the deputy mayor of Canmore says their new downtown pedestrian zone is proving popular.  Karen Marra is a first term councillor and former downtown business owner who s...

As one of the original Rockies occupations, alpine guiding has always occupied a small but sturdy foothold in the tourism sector. Part of that resiliency, surely, has to do with the job-site; for men and women wanting to test themselves against the elements—with the counsel of a qualified profession...

July 1, 2020 The Jasper Community Housing Corporation is forging ahead with plans to create affordable staff housing units on Connaught Drive. And though the JCHC hasn’t yet finalized how the housing complex will be governed, and it remains to be seen where the project’s funding will come from, to h...

Car is still king when it comes to planning a development in Jasper. Despite a request to reduce Parks Canada’s requirement of 89 stalls for their affordable staff housing complex, Jasper’s planning and development advisory committee (PDAC) couldn’t see past potential parking problems on the Jasper ...

2020 Budget Breakdown // June 15, 2020 Jasper Municipal Council voted against administration’s recommended zero per centbudget increase, instead adopting a more austere financial plan to reflect apandemic-affected economy. The Jasper Local explores some of the issues surrounding that process. By Bob...

A local restaurant known for giving its patrons a reliably excellent dining experience wants to make sure local seniors have a reliably excellent transportation service in Jasper. Ashley and Mike Kliewer, owners of The Raven Bistro, have teamed up with staff at the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge for a ...

Back in 1978, Blair Timmins was living the Jasper life. When he wasn’t carving up the slopes he was tuning skis at Marmot Basin. But Timmins, fresh out of the Alberta oil patch, was frustrated with his job. The 24-year-old never had enough time to service customers’ skis properly. Between the time t...

A local business owner has taken a small but significant step in making Jasper more accessible. Ever since she opened the Bear’s Paw and Other Paw Bakeries, Kim Stark has always known the stores weren’t wheelchair friendly. “It always bothered me,” she said. “There’s that small step up that makes it...

Last year, 22-year-old Elissa Cummings rode a mountain bike from Jasper to Mexico. By herself. It took her nine weeks. She rode for 3,500 km. She passed through two provinces, seven states and two countries. She slept in a tent for 50 days, navigated poorly-marked trails and, while biking through th...

Alberta has lifted its moratorium on accepting new cannabis retail applications and a Jasper cannabis store is now licensed and ready to roll. For months, Fleur Cannabis Boutique has been waiting patiently for the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to lift its embargo on new marijuana retailers—a ...

Before she bought the Bear’s Paw Bakery, the only thing Kim Stark had ever baked was a batch of chocolate chip cookies. But in 2002, when she and her then-partner decided they wanted to live in Jasper and own a business, never having baked from scratch before didn’t seem like a particularly big hurd...

Margo Bereska and Ian Sheldon want to let the light in. The Jasper couple have opened the doors to their new studio, Heartspace , where Bereska, a clairvoyant medium and energy therapist, and Sheldon, an acclaimed artist and shamanic healer, want to help service their clients’ spiritual needs. “We g...

The Municipality of Jasper wants the community’s input on cannabis. When cannabis becomes legal in Alberta later this summer, some decisions on how to regulate the drug’s use and sale will be left up to municipalities. To help inform recommendations to council,a cannabis working group is proposing t...

Jasper Municipal Council was weeding through proposed cannabis legislation February 27 and at least one potential retailer in Jasper was keen to learn how local regulations would roll out. Leanne Stanko has been formulating a business plan for cannabis retail in Jasper ever since Prime Minister Just...

If Alberta’s beer industry was a batch of microbrew, in 2005, when the Jasper Brew Pub opened its doors, the batch’s barley would have had scarcely made it to the mill. Today, not only has the mash been converted, the yeast been added to the wort and the beer been filtered, carbonated and cellared, ...

A Jasper woman whose eligible residency requirements were questioned by park officials is sharing her story to show that qualifying to live in Jasper is anything but black and white. Photographer Ashley Kennedy is busy these days. As a wedding and family photographer, her summers book up quick. And ...

It’s 10 minutes before noon at the Jasper Curry House. Owner and head chef, Gopal Shelke, is busy making naan bread. His hands move like he’s playing a tabla: rhythmic, graceful and lightning fast. Shelke turns the dough, slaps it, rolls it out and portions it off. He dabs the segments with butter a...

  Valemount brewery taking pint-sized steps to success     “That’s clean,” Landon Shepherd says, analyzing his first sip of a freshly poured beer. Learning it’s been dubbed Sacrifice Red Ale, a tribute to those who serve their country, Shepherd likes what he’s tasting. “That’s really nice. My wife i...