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Calgary Herald

Ivison: After the inferno, Jasper is on the rebound

Rachel Bailey finally saw a future for herself running a fine dining restaurant in the Rocky Mountain paradise of Jasper, Alta. Article content The native of Manchester, England, was drawn to the snowy peaks and turquoise lakes in 2013, and spent much of the next decade struggling to realize her dream of Canadian citizenship. Her plan was to use her British law degree to become accredited in Canada, but she found herself working part-time in a Jasper bistro and at a local law firm. Article content Article content Article content By the end of 2023, she'd become a Canadian citizen, and the owners of the bistro where she worked had asked her to use her sommelier skills to open a new concept that paired wines with fresh local game and produce. Bailey was invited to become part-owner, and the idea for Peacock Cork and Fork was born. Article content Article content Bailey and her partners purchased an upper-level space on Patricia Street in Jasper's downtown, and on June 12, 2024, the restaurant opened to great fanfare. Article content Just 40 nights after opening — on July 22 last year — the Peacock was so badly damaged by the wildfire that nearly swept away the entire town that it had to be condemned. Bailey lost not only her livelihood but also the house she rented farther up Patricia Street. Article content Article content Article content My wife and I met Bailey — Rachel — when she served us in one of the bustling restaurants that survived the fire, Harvest, just downstairs from where the Peacock was located. Article content Eleven months after the fire that destroyed one-third of Jasper's 1,113 buildings and burned an area nearly the size of the island of Montreal in the surrounding national park, it feels like a town that is just getting by. Article content Gazing toward the town from the Maligne Canyon look-out, the landscape looks like Mordor, scorched earth, pockmarked by thousands of blackened tree stumps. No one knows how much wildlife was lost, though it was recorded that elk and grizzly bears wandered the main streets of the town in the days after the fire, looking for an escape route.