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The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 31 in Jasper, Alta. has become a hotbed of live Canadian musical talent. Matt Anderson, Del Barber, Stephen Fearing, Corb Lund, Devin Cuddy, and Valdy are among the many artists who have already played this intimate 139-seat venue. Big Sugar is booked to do an all-acoustic concert in the near future.

“I spend a lot of time on the phone talking to artists and agents,” says branch president Ken Kuzminski. “Branch 31 is becoming popular as a must-play location.”

The legion focuses on much more than music. It hosts many kinds of community activities and events, ranging from sharing the legion hall with a local French school to staging children’s birthday parties. “We do a lot of inclusive social and service work,” says Kuzminski. “For instance, the local Pride group uses our facilities to plan their events.”

To serve its clients properly, Branch 31 has fully renovated its facility. The plastic tables and chairs and the ratty rug of old are gone. In their place are wooden furniture, HDTVs, hardwood floors and free Wi-Fi. The changes reflect the local members’ response to a financial and morale crisis six years ago. “We were having to choose which bills to pay each month, because we couldn’t afford to pay them all,” Kuzminski says. “It was at this point that we got together and decided that we needed to make the legion truly relevant by opening our doors and ourselves to our community.”