This story originally appeared in the March 1, 2020 edition of The Jasper Local . Author’s note: If any names have been changed, it’s to spare the blushes of Jasper’s stolid citizens. Those who dream by night . . . wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous...

On August 9 Jasper residents and visitors will have the chance to shop for fruit, baked goods, home cooking, veggies, preserves, art, plants and more…and help disadvantaged families in Guatemala while doing so. The annual Summer Fair at the Jasper Activity Centre takes place from 4-8 p.m. This year,...

Hoots, hollers, cheers and tears were emanating from the Lobstick Lodge for the debut of Jasper Theatre Productions ‘ outrageous new show, From Jasper, With Love. On June 26, in anticipation of the production’s June 28 public premiere, a local audience filled the seats of the Lobstick’s Skyline Loun...

Parks Canada is retracting its stance on patio tents. In a letter to Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce president Justin Melnyk, Jasper National Park Field Unit Superintendent Alan Fehr confirmed that tents and canopies will be permitted for the 2022 season. “I understand that businesses require more t...

The official launch party of UpLift Mural Festival took place on Friday April 29. The Jasper Pizza Place patio was absolutely vibin’ as DJs, special presenters and artists took to the stage to celebrate the two-week festival. The evening’s big reveal was the showpiece mural done by renown Indigenous...

In Jasper, a trickster is about. Just ask Joe Urie—although be warned…you might not get a straight answer. Illustration: Joe Urie and Ed Duchoslav While he was writing his forthcoming, debut novel, Urie wasn’t sure if the protagonist he was crafting was based on himself, or not. However, a conversat...

If variety is the spice of life, the Jasper dining scene just got a little more flavourful. The latest edition to the roster of local restaurants is Haldi, a new concept cooked up out of a well-loved kitchen. Since 2018, under chef Gopal Shelke, diners at 620 Connaught Drive and 632 Connaught Drive ...

Two beloved music festivals are remerging in the Rockies.  After a two-year hiatus, the Jasper Folk Music Festival is scheduled to return on September 9-10. Similarly, two years after the pandemic pulled the rug out from large gatherings, the Robson Valley Music Festival in Dunster, B.C. is back on ...

Indigenous artist Kalum Teke Dan is accustomed to a big stage. The canvasses on which the 48-year-old Alberta-based artist paints his murals on have included giant exteriors at the world famous Calgary Stampede, a feature wall in the Calgary Public Library’s lobby and the large glass facade at Norqu...

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...

The first time Edmonton journalist and talk show host Ryan Jespersen came to Jasper, he had somewhat of an epiphany. Despite growing up in Alberta and loving the mountains, it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that Jespo, as he’s known, finally bypassed Banff and made the trek to the Athabasca Valley. The ...

National Truth and Reconciliation Day event an opportunity for learning together On National Truth and Reconciliation Day Jasper will have the opportunity to learn the Truth about what transpired a century ago when the Indigenous People practicing a traditional lifestyle here were evicted from the a...

We drink or we drown, Paulette Dube says. The Jasper author has released a new book of poetry titled the deepest part of the river won’t freeze . At an August 12 online book launch, organized by Dube’s publisher, Green Olive Press, and hosted by fellow Jasper wordsmith, Niki Wilson, Dube brought her...

When Len Morissette was given the chance to produce and direct a documentary that would tell the complicated, calamitous story of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation (AWN), he had a variety of reactions. “I was honoured, but I was also scared,” the 43-year-old Grande Prairie-based filmmaker said. Tasked w...

How can we recognize you if we don’t know who you are? This was the message received by members of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation (AWN) when they began to engage with the Government of Canada to press their rights as a First Nations people. This was a bitter irony, given that the Indigenous communiti...

When Yumi Nishizawa first came to Canada in 1999, after touring the eastern part of the country, she was headed to the mountains. She’d planned to stop in Calgary, but she hadn’t figured out where to stay. A fellow traveller mentioned there was a place in the city where she could get a free meal and...

Jasper’s Jakub Sebela wasn’t always interested in woodworking. When he was young, growing up in a tiny town in the foothills of the Czech Republic, Sebela wanted to be a mechanic. He thought woodworking was too messy. “I wanted to be clean,” the 32-year-old said. “I didn’t like the dust.” But his pa...

Author, conservationist and former superintendent of Banff National Park, Kevin Van Tighem, wants Albertans to reimagine themselves. At a time when social, economic and environmental changes confront and confound Alberta,Van Tighem, a fourth-generation Albertan, says we need better ways of rememberi...

A local writer and science communicator is taking a deep-dive into the growing world of podcasting. Jasper’s Niki Wilson is bringing her inquisitive nature, vast knowledge of Rocky Mountain biology and love of a good pine marten story to a new podcast series called Anthropomania . Jasper’s Niki Wils...

Lynn and Andrew Wannop were not the first to find out that the Municipality of Jasper had some news to share with them. “I was in a meeting with our school coordinator,” Lynn said. “All of a sudden my phone started going crazy.” Lynn’s friends were blowing up her phone because they had just watched ...