Chili was eaten, haggis stabbed, races were run and rails were jammed. Jasper in January wound down for another year Feb. 2, and numbers indicate attendance was up for the festival鈥檚 25th anniversary.
Even without hard evidence, many people felt this year鈥檚 festival had a few more people bopping around, and numbers collected by Tourism Jasper confirm that.
For example, Winterstruck saw about 650 people make the trek to Pyramid Lake Jan. 18鈥攁 jump of more than 150 over last year鈥檚 crowd, according to Amanda Stevens, business development coordinator for Tourism Jasper.
Also significant was the ratio of locals to out-of-towners: 500 of those who attended hailed from outside Jasper.
More than 200 of them took dogsled rides, and even more hopped on a sleigh for a horse-drawn trip on the lake.
While there were many festival-goers from the expected destinations, a significant number also came all the way from Calgary.
With so many events selling out this year鈥攖he Chili Cook-Off, Hops and Scotch and both Stuart McLean performances, to name a few鈥斺�渆verything seemed to go really well,鈥� said Stevens. 鈥淚t just seemed to be packed here, especially on weekends.
鈥淚 think this year was really good; it was an awesome year.鈥�
She also said that, although Tourism Jasper didn鈥檛 have concrete numbers yet, about 1,200 people came out to the Jan. 25 ATCO Street Party, which was 鈥渄efinitely up鈥� from last year.
The success of the party was also felt by Marmot Basin, which put on a few events, including a learn to ski and snowboard activity on the information centre lawn.
Brian Rode, Marmot鈥檚 vice president of marketing and sales, characterized the night as a 鈥渕assive success.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 been some really, really good events. People have just enjoyed them profoundly,鈥� he said.
Jasper in January was originally started primarily as a way to get more people up to the ski hill, and according to Rode鈥檚 numbers, it worked this year.
He estimated that by the time things wound down, Marmot saw about 26,000 visits to the hill over the course of the festival鈥攁 jump of eight or nine per cent over the 2013 numbers.
Part of the good attendance might have been due to January鈥檚 balmy weather鈥攁ttendees of last year鈥檚 street party no doubt remember the brutal cold鈥攂ut it may also have been the new events that popped up.
The Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre鈥檚 Arts on Ice event brought artists, chefs and musicians together for a kick-off event that went over quite well, and Stevens guessed it 鈥渨ill be a new signature event for Jasper in January.鈥�
Winter Cross also capitalized on the fat bike trend sweeping through town, with a series of races, and the ice lounge that appeared on the information centre lawn turned heads and froze a few butts.
And while there were plenty of new events to experience, a few of the established ones, like the Polar Bear Dip, were absent from this year鈥檚 lineup.
Stevens thinks that despite Jasper in January鈥檚 success this year, there is always room for improvement. While Winterstruck attendance was up, the event still has room to grow, she said. Having an event people can watch up there, such as a race, might accomplish that.
鈥淚f more stuff can be up at Winterstruck, that would be awesome,鈥� she said.
Trevor Nichols
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