If you’ve ever walked into a Jasper business and been delighted by the warm smile of an enthusiastic employee, there’s a strong chance you’ve encountered a graduate of the Share the Spirit program.
Share the Spirit is a partnership between the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce, the Jasper Adult Learning Centre, the Municipality of Jasper, Friends of Jasper National Park and Parks Canada.
Together, the organizations have developed a day-long training course, specific to Jasper, that teaches residents to be “ambassadors” of the town.
The course combines communication workshops, history lessons and interpretive experience in the park, with the goal of giving participants not only an appreciation for Jasper, but the skills to pass it along to guests.
That means a typical session sees participants playing games designed to get them to consider different perspectives, but also trekking into the park with a Parks Canada interpreter to have lunch in the woods.
It all began four year ago when Pattie Pavlov, general manager of the chamber, Ginette Marcoux, executive director of the learning centre, and former Tourism Jasper CEO Maggie Davison got together after realizing Jasper’s service industry could use a boost.
“We literally cobbled something together as quickly as possible,” Pavlov said, and over time the organizations have worked to refine the program, bringing it to where it is today.
On April 9, at a presentation to local business owners at the Jasper Adult Learning Centre, Pavlov explained how every person living in Jasper is an ambassador.
“Every single one of you has an investment in this community, regardless of what you do. It doesn’t matter what you own, what you do, if you’re out walking your dog or weeding your garden, it doesn’t matter. Each one of you has a role to play in this community, you are an investment in the community,” she said.
Many businesses in the local service industry send their employees through the program, but Pavlov stressed that it is helpful for anyone. “[Share the Spirit] allows everyone in our community, both as a worker and a resident, to know and understand the community we live in,” she said.
Many tourism professionals spoke at the afternoon-long presentation, including Tourism Jasper’s Bryan Attree, who talked about how important it is for the town’s businesses to foster a sense of pride in their employees.
Through a program like Share the Spirit “your employees get ownership, involvement, [and a] sense of belonging,” he said, “at that point, regardless of how long people are working here for, they will have that radiating from their body.”
This is important, he said, because the strongest experiences visitors will have are their interactions with other people. And those interactions colour their whole experience, regardless of how pretty the mountains are.
“You can forgive a semi-cold plate of chicken wings and kind of flat beer, if your server is excellent,” Attree said.
Like Pavolv, Marcoux stressed that the program’s real value is creating an atmosphere of pride and helpfulness in Jasper, which visitors to town will recognize as soon as they get here.
“It’s an attitude we’re trying to create in the community. Our goal is to create some excitement about being here and living here, and also to re-ignite the passion about why some of us are still here,” she said.
 Trevor Nichols
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