As Virginia Woolf wrote, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

But Jasper’s tradition of the community dinner has grown to much more than just a way to satisfy hunger.

“It struck us having a regular dinner satisfied a whole range of needs,” said Kathleen Waxer, director of Community and Family Services for the Municipality of Jasper. “People who are hungry for sure, but also the need for companionship, people who live alone, young families who can’t afford to eat out... we also found it was an opportunity to meet each other.”

The Activity Centre hosted the first community dinner of the season on Nov. 16, and Waxer was in awe of the line of diners that snaked through the multi-purpose hall. “I’ve never seen a line-up like that before in my life, it was unbelievable,” she said.

Waxer estimates nearly 400 people attended the event, where a documentary, created by Community and Family Services, about the dinner tradition was shown. The evening was also dedicated to the memory of Andy Walker, a former town councillor, who was included in the film.

“Andy’s in it because he was always a really big supporter [of the community dinner], he thought it could really make a difference,” Waxer said. “So we felt it was appropriate for him to be honoured in there.”

The municipality budgets $3,000 towards the dinners, which started one year when there was a slow start to winter. “It was felt there were a lot of young people who come here to work in the tourism industry and were expecting to work earlier than they were able to,” Waxer said. 

“The thought was to at least feed them, to show some measure of caring from the community and appreciation for them coming to work.”

Each week, dinner is prepared by a different group of volunteers, Waxer said, and contributions are accepted to help cover the cost of the food. The next community dinner will be Dec. 14 at the Jasper Activity Centre, when they begin occurring weekly.