Jasper slowly reopening to the public as wildfire recovery continues

While the cleanup continues in Jasper, the public is once again permitted back into the mountain town.

Shelley Koebel owns three businesses that have been open for two weeks. She said customers coming through can’t return quickly enough.

“We have our Coin Clean Laundry and our SnowDome coffee bar that are one unit, we also have Andromeda Coffee,” Koebel said.

“We're getting to the point where we'll need more than local support to be sustainable, so we are looking forward to welcoming visitors back in a mindful way.”

Jessica Worth, who owns Cubz Play Cafe, said the recovery has been an emotional process and is moving faster than expected.

“We are lucky that our house is still standing, but you also have a bit of that survival guilt right now,” she said.

It remains a delicate time for many, so Worth hopes out-of-towners passing through bring some business, but not full-on tourism.

“We’re not quite ready, the town, to welcome everybody. There’s still a lot of grieving happening, especially those that have lost their homes,” Worth said.

“There are limited services, there’s only one grocery store open, we only have two gas stations, two of our other gas stations got burnt, so those resources are essential for us residents that are here to be able to live comfortably.”

Despite a difficult few years following the COVID-19 pandemic, with wildfires and challenging ski seasons, Koebel is optimistic for Jasper’s return to form.

“I know that Jasper will always be loved,” she said.

“I’m confident that it will be probably a slower ski season than normal, but it can’t be worse than last year.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg and David Ewasuk