Despite a mishap that destroyed the town’s first order of bedding plants—(the semi transporting them rolled over on the highway)—Jasper is nearly in full bloom.
The municipality’s grounds crew has been out in force this week, filling the town’s planters with bursts of vibrant colour, brightening our downtown core.
Each spring and summer, the municipality, businesses and homeowners tidy up their yards, planters, and storefronts in an effort to further beautify our already beautiful town.
Although that’s likely true of every community, these efforts are especially important in Jasper.
With tourism as our main industry and nature as our main attraction, a clean, attractive town is key to the community’s success.
We want our guests to arrive in Jasper in awe, not only because of the mountains, but because of the quaint beauty of our town. We rely on that to bring people back for repeat visits and to garner positive referrals from those who have visited in the past.
We need every photo to depict a spectacular mountain town. That means we need our sidewalks to be free of litter, our planters full of blooming flowers and our dumpsters free of graffiti.
As well as impressing our visitors, these things will also impress our judges next month, as Communities in Bloom rolls into town to rate Jasper against six other communities.
Jasper has been competing in Communities in Bloom competitions, on the provincial, national and now international stage, for a handful of years and has been recognized numerous times.
In 2010, it won at the provincial level. In 2012, it won at the national level, and last year, although the town didn’t win the international competition, it received special recognition for heritage preservation and it also garnered top marks: five blooms.
The judges will return to town July 27–29, and, if we follow along with the pattern of winning every second year, it seems this is Jasper’s year to be recognized on the international stage.
To do that, the town has to be in tip-top shape on judgement day, July 28.
Although that could take a bit of work, it will be worth it: if we win the competition, we’ll receive free advertising as a blooming community, and if not, we’ll still have a clean and attractive town waiting for our visitors, as they roll through this summer.
