Jason Stockfish | [email protected]
Jasper in January 2023 came to an end last weekend, but not before the downtown was filled with residents and visitors looking to enjoy a festival-closing street party.
Despite the cold snap that rolled in on the heels of an unseasonable stretch of mild weather, hundreds of people gathered on Jan. 28 to take in the festivities.
From live music to beer gardens at the old fire hall, performances by Cirque Aurora, an inflatable climbing structure, award presentation for best poutine, street vendors and performers and a fireworks display that finished the night with a bang, the organizers of Jasper in January continued the tradition of delivering a fun-filled family-friendly party to close out the winter festival.
Kicking off the evening on a stage situated between the post office and the old fire hall was Michaele Rhodes, who earned the spot at the street party as the winner of the Jasper Folk Music Festival’s Battle Royale at the Legion on Jan. 21.
Rhodes had the crowd wrapped around his nearly frost-bitten fingers with a stunning performance full of melodies warm enough to melt the icicles from your eyelashes.
After Rhodes’s set, Wendy Hall took to the stage to present Jasper Brewing Co.’s Justin Melnyk and Taqee Nabhani with the festival’s trophy for “Jasper’s Top Poutine.”
As attendees made their way from fire pit to food vendor looking to stay warm, they enjoyed performances by Sasha Galitzki and Laura-Ann Chong of Cirque Aurora, fiddling by Dominic Plamondon, inflatable climbing walls and much more.
The headlining band for the street party were the Barkells, who travelled from Edmonton to put on an electrifying performance that had the crowd dancing in the streets from the opening chords until the bitter cold end, covering everything from the Backstreet Boys to Queen along the way.
Once the music ended and the vendors began quickly packing up to escape the cold, the crowd made its way to Centennial Park to take in an amazing fireworks display that had the people cheering and honking their car horns in appreciation of another spectacular Jasper in January.
