The economic impact of the Excelsior Wildfire has been a tale of two stories for businesses in Jasper.
The Maligne Canyon Restaurant lost about $80,000 after authorities closed Maligne Lake Road, July 9, cutting off access to the restaurant.
According to Galal Helmy, owner of the restaurant for the past 50 years, business is down 20 per cent for this time of the year, even after the road was partially reopened July 16, allowing access to the restaurant and Maligne Canyon Wilderness Hostel. Maligne Lake Road was completely reopened July 22.
“It’s not a good situation, you’ll never recover that money,” said Helmy, explaining he had to throw out $2,700 worth of food.
He said he was expecting business to bounce back when he got the all clear to open again, but so far it hasn’t materialized.
Instead, he said traffic on Maligne Lake Road was congested and parking was at a premium at Maligne Canyon making it difficult for buses—his main source of income—to find parking.
“When the road is open and they go to Maligne Lake, [traffic] eases up,” he said, explaining RVs are the main problem because they take up so much space and tend not to use his restaurant.
During the restaurant’s closure, Helmy said he continued to pay his employees because he was afraid he might lose them to other businesses in town.
“If I lost them to somebody else then it would have been a problem,” he said, adding, “I wasn’t bitter about it.”
Helmy said he might be able to recoup some of the lost money through his insurance policy, but said it doesn’t cover any lost wages or food that was thrown out.
In town, the sudden closure of the Maligne Valley forced visitors to consider other activities, including whitewater rafting.
“I know our numbers were slightly up,” said Scott Eady, the general manager for Jasper Raft Tours.
“With people not being able to get up to the lake, and with prominent wind from the west keeping the smoke out of the valley, and the weather being as hot as it was, probably the coolest place to be was on the river, so we had a lot more people looking for a river experience.”
Mary Darling, CEO for Tourism Jasper, said besides the impact on Maligne Lake Tours and the other businesses dependent on Maligne Lake Road, business in town has remained busy over the past two weeks.
“Our occupancy year over year—unofficially of course because we’re still in the middle of July—is showing that there has not been any decrease,” said Darling, crediting Parks Canada’s “proactive communications” for keeping things steady.
“[That] had a lot to do with people still continuing to plan their trips and coming to Jasper,” she said, adding restaurants and attraction providers appear to be doing well.
Ken Hall, general manager for the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, echoed Darling’s statements.
“Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge’s summer occupancy levels have remained strong and we have not seen a decrease in tourism revenues due to the Excelsior fire in the Maligne Valley,” said Hall, in an emailed statement.
Parks Canada said about 200 backcountry camping permits along the Skyline Trail and in the Maligne Valley were affected by the fire.
“Staff continued to work with people to reschedule [their trips] or move them to other areas of the park, or look at other national parks,” said Gloria Keyes-Brady, acting visitor experience manager for Parks.
She also said the number of visitors entering the park has remained strong.
“We’re expecting we'll be on par or exceed last year’s numbers,” said Keyes-Brady.
At SnowDome Coffee Bar, business took a bit of a different turn, with more than a dozen customers paying it forward by purchasing coffees for people fighting the fire.
“Our pay it forward wall is basically a way for everybody in town to contribute to other people and help each other out and give each other free coffee,” said Jen Leroux, a supervisor at the coffee shop.
The free coffees are written on Post-It Notes and stuck to the wall so firefighters who walk through the door can see there’s a beverage waiting for them.
“[Customers are] doing it just as a big thank you for all the firefighters that have helped us out,” said Leroux, noting that a few firefighters have already taken up the offer.
Pat Crowley, the general manager for Maligne Lake Tours, did not return emails or phone calls, but in a Facebook post, the company stated it would begin serving coffee at its restaurant now that the road is open. Boat tours are expected to resume July 23.
“It will take us a little time to get all our supplies back to our restaurant, so we will only be serving coffee until Thursday,” it stated in the post, asking that people be patient as staff work to get things back to normal.
Paul Clarke
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