Nicolle Hodges | [email protected]
Life is messy and unpredictable.
We would likely go mad if we knew the ripple effects, and so, it is only in hindsight that we have the privilege of seeing how certain moments shape us. Life is made up of stories, good and bad, and many of them were shared at the annual Storytellers event.
On February 20, Jasperites gathered at Downstream to enjoy Once Upon a Time, a night of hilarious and heartfelt tales from locals, hosted by Friends of Jasper Childcare.
The event raised $8,115, which according to Childcare Services Manager Lisa Daniel, is their biggest raise by far (for comparison, last year brought in $4,200). Of the total funds, $700 came from the Downstream鈥檚 donation of 15 per cent of sales from the evening, and $1,000 was a donation by a local business owner, Gerry Levasseur.
鈥淓ach year, we use the money on additional programmings such as gymnastics, music, and yoga, as well as sunscreen for both childcare programs and field trips for our school-aged program,鈥� said Daniel.
鈥淎ny additional money raised would go towards overall yard improvements at Wildflowers.鈥�
The evening鈥檚 emcee and founder of Jasper Food Tours, Estelle Blanchette, invited seasoned storyteller Lena Fraser to the stage to start the evening.
She spoke with ease and appropriately-timed comedic pauses about her trek to China after a breakup at 18-years old, recounted through the hilarious and precarious 鈥渆mergency calls鈥� she made to her increasingly worried parents.
Janet Jones, a veterinarian who came to Jasper in 1989 for four months, and like many others, never left, brought a framed photo onstage.
She told a story about her involvement in the wolf reintroduction project to Yellowstone and Idaho in 1995. Her 鈥渇ifteen minutes of fame鈥� came when 鈥渢his photo鈥� she said, holding it up for the audience to see, "made worldwide headlines.鈥� She was carrying a huge, tranquilized black wolf on her back through the snow.
White cowboy boots and a white feather had Paulette Dube contemplating whether she had spent most of her life, well, dead. The moral? You might as well do what makes you happy because who knows what happens when you die, for real.聽
Longtime Jasperite Wendy Hall told a story about her youth and hitchhiking with her father, which ended in a heartfelt one-liner that brought the story full circle and generated massive applause, 鈥渁nywhere near there is fine.鈥澛�
From Becky Artiaga, A.L. Horton, Jasmine Ramratan and Nick Nissen, each story was a hit, whether about love and sharks or having a childhood crush on Kevin Costner.
Life is messy, but when a chapter comes to an end, it鈥檚 a chance to pause. There are few things more satisfying than a lesson learned and a story worth telling to friends when we can finally fit the pieces together.
