Parkway closures to start at 3 p.m., April 9 The Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93N) and the Maligne Lake Road are anticipated to close tomorrow (Sunday, April 9) afternoon, Parks Canada is advising. Jasper National Park forecasters are expecting a spring storm to hit Jasper and Banff. The storm will affect...

Problems that confounded Parks Canada’s online campground reservation service in years past appear to be in the rear view mirror. Meanwhile, occupancy rates in Jasper’s hotel sector have rebounded from the pandemic.  Issues which plagued Parks Canada’s online campground reservation system were resol...

Parks Canada will not close the Icefields Parkway today as planned. The Maligne Lake Road is also open. Snowfall levels from the winter storm forecasted to hit Jasper National Park starting February 12, 2023, were not as significant as expected, Parks Canada says. Still, the agency is advising motor...

With sale of Mountain Galleries, Jasper artist and filmmaker is reflecting on a life lived in art As a 10-year-old girl, Wendy Wacko never struggled with what she would do when she grew up. “I always knew I wanted to live a life in art,” she said. Some six decades later, the Jasper-based arts promot...

RCMP have determined that criminal charges are not warranted in the 2020 Columbia Icefields Ice Explorer rollover that killed three people.  Jasper RCMP have completed their investigation into the accident and determined the evidence gathered and reviewed did not meet the threshold for criminal char...

Two local business owners are concerned about the lack of business supports in the wake of Jasper’s September 4-14 power outage emergency. Patricia Street proprietors Lynn Wannop and Shelley Koebel both attended the September 27 committee of the whole meeting, on behalf of their individual businesse...

Jaime Breeze was three years old when she saw her first “spirit.” She’s not alone in that experience; many children claim to see ghosts . The difference was, unlike most children’s parents who chalk such behaviour up to an over-active imagination, Jaime’s mother was always supportive of her visions....

I’d skirt the guidelines, frustrated councillor tells restauranteurs Patio decision epitomizes jurisdictional issues between town and federal government Councillor Scott Wilson expressed the collective frustration of Jasperites at the May 17 municipal council meeting when he told business delegates ...

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...

From a young age, Emilie Langley had a penchant for needlework. Sewing lessons as a teenager put her ahead of the curve; Langley would finish her home-economics assignments much faster than the rest of the students. “I think that upset the teacher,” Langley said with a laugh. In college, Langley rem...

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 ...

If she wanted to, Karen Jacobs could make a laundry list of ways her retail business has been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. But Jacobs, who’s owned Jasper’s premiere clothing boutique, Mountain Air, for the last 10 years, isn’t that kind of gal. “It’s not all doom and gloom,” Jaco...

Dwaine Gilzene dreams big. Always has. And whether it has been moving to Canada, becoming a permanent Canadian resident, meeting and marrying his dream partner, or opening up his own restaurant, the 35-year-old has been able to achieve those dreams. You can see the culmination of those realized ambi...

Transportation company changing lanes SILVER LININGS // Paul Hardy, whose transportation business was built to serve a diverse international market, is grateful that Albertans are rediscovering their backyard. // BOB COVEY In any other winter, if the Icefields Parkway closes for Parks Canada avalanc...

In March, with less opportunities for visitors to dine-in, pizza joints, which specialize in delivery, leaned into the coronavirus-affected market. Things changed again in December when full lockdown measures came into effect (no dine-in at all) and more restaurants got into the curbside pickup game...

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...

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...

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...