Jasper’s Tour of Alberta local organizing committee is nearly at full strength, with only a few vacant spots to fill.
The committee, which has 12 positions ranging from chairperson to sponsorship director, is responsible for coordinating the festivals at the start and finish lines, as well as marketing the event, creating awareness and organizing volunteers.
As of press time, only four positions remain unfilled: operations director, technical director, volunteer director and education director.
“There’s a couple of gaps there, but we’re still accepting applications and we’ll go through those at the next opportunity,” said Mayor Richard Ireland, who will be acting as a co-chair along with Matt Decore.
That opportunity will likely be Feb. 27, when the current committee members meet for the first time. At that meeting, Ireland said the members will also determine which directors need volunteers first and what needs to be tackled now, rather than later.
One of the first tasks will be developing a marketing campaign, a job that will fall into the lap of Michael Lodge, the committee’s media and public relations director, and the director of marketing and communication for Tourism Jasper.
“We’re [bringing the Tour of Alberta to Jasper] because of the marketing potential, so it’s important that we get ourselves lined up to maximize the effect that we can have through the tour,” explained Ireland.
“That’s a critical one that we can get going now. The good side of that is that most of it doesn’t take a whole lot of people. It takes a whole lot of thought and a whole lot of planning, but we don’t need a whole bunch of volunteers to do that. We have experts in the community who will understand how we can maximize our air time. That is something that is going to start early.”
Next on the priority list comes the technical aspects of the race. But, until the route is finalized, those aspects—for instance, where to put course marshals and where to stop traffic—can’t be fully realized.
Historically, the route has been announced in the spring, once the tour’s technical director has seen it without snow.
The Tour of Alberta takes place from Sept. 2–7.
On Sept. 4, 120 of the world’s best cyclists will finish Stage 3 in Jasper National Park and the following morning they will begin Stage 4 in the townsite and later finish at Marmot Basin.
That means Jasper will be hosting three festivals in two days. To break up the workload, the committee has appointed three festival directors: Heather Johnson and Soula Jackson, both of whom sit on the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce board, are in charge of the two festivals taking place in town and Brian Rode, Marmot Basin’s VP of marketing, will cover the mountaintop finish at the ski hill.
Logistically, Ireland said it made the most sense to break up the job because there will be two festivals on one day, in two different locations, so it would be nearly impossible for one person to handle all of the organization necessary to pull that off.
Jasper’s committee has also added an additional position, appointing Ellen Eady as executive assistant to the co-chairs.
“We recognized that we can benefit from her assistance,” said Ireland. “She’s got a whole bunch of administrative and technical skills that she can bring to the table.”
The Tour of Alberta is the highest ranking cycling event in the country, attracting the same cyclists that compete in the Tour de France. It has grown with popularity each year since it began in 2013, attracting 200,000 spectators and 41 million international television viewers last year.
This will be the tour’s first time heading north, with the race beginning with time trials in Grande Prairie on Sept. 2 and ultimately making its way through the County of Grande Prairie, Grande Cache, Jasper, Edson, Spruce Grove and finally to Edmonton for the circuit race.
If you are interested in volunteering, either as a member of the committee or on one of the many subcommittees, it’s not too late. Send an email to [email protected] to express your interest.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
