Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
There’s a good reason why a mini-Epcot centre materialized at Marmot Lodge.
Contrary to a report last month, which is like ancient history now, the Jasper Planetarium’s sturdy new 50-seat dome was in fact open to the public on May 1.
Co-owner and general manager Peter McMahon said after some nervous moments while the new rigid structure was in transit, things are coming together at exactly the right time in the form of dozens and dozens of steel triangles forming a partial sphere. With a 50 percent larger diameter than the inflatable dome the company started with in 2015, it promises a more realistic experience.
“It’s one of those things, it’s always bigger than you imagine it’s going to be,” McMahon said.
That’s also what she said.
“No one says ‘what is that?’ They all say ‘is that the new planetarium?’ So we’ve got some buzz around town.”
There was a buzz of constant activity at the site last week as it all came together.
The new dome required the removal of part of a retaining wall and some excavation work.
“This was bricked over as of about six hours ago,” McMahon says standing outside the dome on a sunny afternoon, while inside others worked to zip-tie the outer housing to the base of the frame. “Every single thing is coming together.”
His phone rings.
“Sorry, I just have to hand this Matt,” he says, momentarily disappearing inside the mini-Death Star. “There are so many little moving pieces, but literally and figuratively it’s coming together. You wouldn’t be able to do this maybe anywhere else in North America the way we’re doing this. In a bigger centre, you’d get lost in all the other attractions, and in a way smaller town, there’s not enough people coming through, and there’s not enough talent.”
He said he’s fortunate to have a “solid” team with passion for Jasper and the dark sky preserve it occupies, and chops for bringing the people in and sending them home thoroughly astronomatized.
“We’re not dying for staff, we actually have some people who left their other jobs for us,” he said. “We’ve got stuff going on. People want to work here. One refrain I didn’t think I’d be repeating this year is ‘sorry, we’re fully staffed.’”
A tour group of 50 has already been through. Events are scheduled every two or three days in May, and the planetarium is starting to get booked up.
The increasingly popular stargazing nights right out front of the dome in the Marmot parking lot will continue.
“We’re seeing the universe in a parking lot,” he explained. “Why are we doing this here? Most people want to go to sleep afterward. A cool thing about the architecture of the hotel is the lighting is placed behind the facade, there are just a couple of floodlights to avoid and the hotel blocks the streetlights. So you can actually see the Milky Way and most of the auroras, and you’re within walking distance of 12 hotels. It’s a parking lot, but it’s near the edge of town in a dark sky preserve.”
