Half a dozen business owners attended a Tour of Alberta debrief, Oct. 8, to share their feedback and constructive criticism with the event's organizers.
The goal of the informal meeting was to allow members of the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce to voice their concerns about the execution of the professional bike race, so local organizers know how to improve the event if or when it returns to Jasper National Park in the future.
The majority of the business owners in attendance saw significant revenue loss over the course of the race weekend, Sept. 4–5, and attributed those losses to the extensive downtown road closures that were in place.
To ensure that's not the case again, the group suggested that if the Tour of Alberta returns to Jasper, road closures be kept to a minimum, allowing people to continue using Patricia Street and Connaught Drive.
“I don't think anyone would say the event doesn't hold value,” said Shelley Koebel of SnowDome Coffee Bar and Coin Clean Laundry. “Just please don't close the street for two days. Close it for three hours,” she said, suggesting it only be closed for the cyclists to do their laps in town, rather than for the duration of the event.
She pointed to Canada Day as a good example of how the road can be closed successfully, without negatively impacting the surrounding businesses and stressed that Patricia Street is the heart of the community and is home to numerous services, including her laundromat, the bank and a grocery store, and those services require vehicle access.
“People are dependent on vehicles; they want to drive up and do their laundry, buy their groceries and do deposits at the bank. Patricia Street is diverse. If we choose to make it a car-free street, it won't be diverse anymore.”
Koebel's concerns were echoed numerous times by other downtown business owners who saw their sales plummet over the course of the weekend.
To reduce the impact of the closures, Neil Byatt of Jasper Rock and Jade offered to place and remove the road closure signs in front of his Connaught Drive store to ensure its done in a timely manner.
He also suggested that perhaps the race start in a different part of town, rather than right downtown, so there isn't an impact on the business district.
Candace Broughton of Jasper Motorcycle Tours agreed.
“Bring it every year, just put it somewhere else,” she said, noting that because of the road closure she had to move her entire operation to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge at great expense, just so she could continue operating.
The business owners also expressed concern about the lack of clear communication from the Tour of Alberta committee about the closures and what was taking place in town.
As a solution, Pattie Pavlov, general manager of the chamber, suggested that if the tour returns, there be a business liaison on the committee, to ensure that the community's businesses are well informed and prepared for the event.
After the tour wrapped up its two days in Jasper, its executive director, Duane Vienneau, said he would love to see it return to the park in the future and hinted at the possibility of bringing it back in 2017.
The Tour of Alberta is Canada's only professional bike race and attracts the world's best cyclists, taking them through the province.
The inaugural tour took the athletes from Edmonton to Calgary in 2013. This year, with the addition of Jasper, the event had its first mountaintop finishes, with finish lines at Miette Hot Springs and Marmot Basin.
Jasper's participation in the event was made possible by financial contributions from the Municipality of Jasper, Parks Canada and Tourism Jasper, each of which pitched in to cover the tour's rights fees.
The three organizations agreed to make the financial commitment because they saw a long-term value, with upwards of 120 million viewers tuning in around the world to see the cyclists pedalling up Jasper's hills and through its valleys.
The hope is the two days of footage will attract cyclists to Jasper National Park in the future.
Mike Day of Evil Dave's Grill attended the debrief to express his support for the event and the benefits that are sure to come from hosting it in the park.
He applauded the organizers for creating an exciting festival atmosphere on the information centre lawn with the jumbotron and numerous activities keeping people entertained as the race moved its way around the park.
Wayne Hnatyshin, president of the chamber, also lauded the efforts of the local organizers and boasted about the unmatchable advertising the park received by having the tour roll through.
“The destination needs visitors,” he said, “and it needs us to be in the marketplace.
“These are huge opportunities and they don't come by very often.”
Nicole Veerman
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