You many have noticed things are rather…strained…at Jasper Municipal Council meetings these days. While perhaps not immediately apparent, anyone who has been viewing the public meetings over Zoom the last couple of months will have noticed an uptick in tension amongst participants. Not being privy t...

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 ...

SkiMo athlete Peter Knight has rocketed up to number one on the SkiMo circuit in Canada, but although he’s a beast on the skin track, the 30-year-old Edmontonian is arguably even more savage on social media . Knight en route to victory at Marmot’s Revenge in 2018. // Bob Covey Knight has already cha...

When 25-year-old Vanessa McGibbon decided to relocate to Jasper for a career move, she was looking forward to embracing small town living. Little did she know how much the small town would embrace her. On February 5, barely a month after she started her new job as a physiotherapist in Jasper, McGibb...

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 bison bone found high in the alpine near Maligne Lake is opening doors of discovery for paleo-environmental researchers in Jasper National Park. In 2016, Parks Canada historians surveying an ice patch near the headwaters of Trapper Creek were surprised to find what looked to be a bison humerus mel...

Jasper-based education org celebrating 20 years of working in Africa As October snows threaten, some locals are packing their suitcases with visions of warmer climates dancing through their heads. A Hawaiian getaway perhaps? Sojourn to Mexico? Costa Rica vacay? Not for Jasperite Jill Fenton. Althoug...

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...

Bob Covey // The Jasper Local Newspaper Fright night in Alberta came early this year. October 31 in Jasper had its fair share of ghosts and ghouls, but the real scares were being conjured up at the Alberta Legislature a week prior. Minister of Finance Travis Toews wasn’t donning a costume when he ro...

Guest columnist: Joe Urie Imagine being gifted the name Gloria. It’s such a beautiful name. A name derived from the Latin word which simply means “Glory.” Now, try to imagine living up to the hype of such a name. To many of us, if we were ever made to try, it might seem a daunting task. Or maybe it ...

When she was a kid, Dawn Glover had a t-shirt that said Run For Your Life. Today, the 46-year-old is personifying that mantra. Her life is her family, her faith and her community—all of which she was running for on July 7, helping her become the 2019 champion of the Sinister 7 ultra marathon in the ...

Update: Council has passed a motion reducing the town’s speed limit to 40 km/hr Whenever classic editorial fodder such as the changing of municipal speed zones are up for community debate, the old timey newspaperman in me can’t wait to wade in. Usually, after uncrossing my arms and loudly cracking m...

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...

CLINT MALARCHUK IS IN HIS BARN SOUTH OF RENO, NEVADA. BIRDS ARE CHIRPING AND THE SMELL OF FRESH HAY IS PUNGENT IN THE MORNING AIR. Sunlight filters through the open door and as he thinks ahead to the day’s chores, Malarchuk is transported half a century and 2,500 km to a ranch near Grande Prairie, A...

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 ...

It’s 2 a.m. and Marissa Kidd is on her couch, nursing her newborn son . Kidd is tired—her baby boy is only a few days old and she’s hardly slept. But she’s also restless. There’s something on her mind, something that’s been brought sharply into focus ever since her second child was born. What’s trou...

A light that shone ever brightly in Jasperites’ lives has been extinguished. Norm Lamothe, friend to many in this community, passed suddenly and tragically at his family’s cabin on Lake Bednesti, outside of Prince George, B.C., on April 6. A loving father and a devoted husband, Lamothe was only 42 y...

Most mornings, if I’m on the ball, just before our toddler pulls out all of her toys and books and crafts and games and spreads them all over the floor, I try to get us outside. This has been much easier as of late, what with the winter finally relenting. Bundling isn’t as critical. Arguments about ...

Jasper candidate leaning on her core values Paula Cackett’s life is full on these days. The 29-year-old Jasperite is running for political office in the upcoming provincial election. As such, she’s got a bag full of lanyards, buttons and pamphlets, promoting her party’s messages. She’s got a truck f...