Local organizations celebrate success

Many local organizations from Green River and Sweetwater County have continued strong throughout 2024, and are optimistic about the future. 

The Green River Chamber of Commerce, Sweetwater County Library System, and Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition (SEDC) all gave recent updates where they presented details of successes from the summer and plans for the future. 

Green River Chamber

The Green River Chamber of Commerce's regular update was given by Chamber CEO Lisa Herrera at the September 17 City of Green River Council meeting. 

"Our visitation numbers have been up incredibly," Herrera told the council. "It's been a busy summer." 

She pointed out that the Chamber received over 5,000 visitors in July, with many coming while the National High School Finals Rodeo was taking place. Before that, the most visitors the Chamber had ever had in one month was around 3,000. Herrera noted that the increased number of visitors is good for Green River, good for Sweetwater County, and good for Wyoming as a whole. 

The Chamber hosted and participated in several successful events throughout the summer, according to Herrera, including a Cleanup Day, Trails Day, Flags of Honor and Cheers to Trona featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales. The main event of the summer was the return of River Festival, which had record-breaking numbers for Saturday. The associated Run with the Horses Marathon had 30 more runners than last year, and had runners participating from 33 different states, along with one runner from Canada and one from the United Kingdom. The Chamber has also received multiple requests to add a 5K element to the race, which they hope to do in the future, Herrera added. 

The Chamber also has several future events coming up, including political candidate forums and the Holiday Business Showcase. 

"Thanks for all you do to keep Green River on the map," Councilmember Mike Shutran told Herrera. 

Sweetwater County Library System

The Sweetwater County Library System also had a busy summer, and saw increased numbers of both programs and people benefitting from their services. 

Library Director Lindsey Travis presented an annual report to the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners during their September 17 meeting. 

"Overall we had a really great year for fiscal year 24," Travis said. "We do feel that the library system is fulfilling its mission of improving the quality of life in Sweetwater County." 

In Fiscal Year 2024, the library held 979 programs, an increase of 23.8%. 

"That's more than two programs a day that we were open, which I think is fantastic," Travis pointed out. "When we bring people in for programs, we are also promoting literacy and promoting all the other services that we have." 

Program attendance was also up 16.2%, with nearly 40,000 people attending library programs across the county, according to Travis. The library system also saw an increase in the reservation and use of library meeting rooms, and had 20,850 computer uses over the year and free wifi accessed about 900 times per month.

"That's a lot of people coming in and using our services," Travis said.

Travis also pointed out the library's additional services and partnerships, including the Community Fine Arts Center, the Children's Discovery Center, and the Spanish Language Collection and monthly Spanish Story Time. The Library Foundation has also worked throughout the year to provide funding for library projects, including giving $20,000 to support the summer reading program, which close to 2,000 people participated in. The Foundation also supported the seed library, the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program, plaques for mass graves at Riverview Cemetery, and the permanent story walk in Green River that will be opening soon.

Travis shared a few quotes from community members about the importance of the library, including a statement from Green River Mayor Pete Rust, who said, "Our library is a great resource for our community, and the staff is knowledgeable and friendly and always willing to help."

"You guys do a lot of good things," Commission Chairman Keaton West told Travis. 

SEDC

In their effort to support local businesses and economic growth throughout the community, the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition has been working throughout the year on major initiatives. 

SEDC Economic Development Specialist Kayla McDonald spoke to the county commissioners during their last meeting to give an update on the work SEDC has been doing throughout the year. She explained that the organization worked with the Wyoming Business Council last year and did a free strategic planning session, through which they identified three major initiatives that they have now been working to implement. 

The first initiative was business retention, which McDonald pointed out was the "number one priority." Making sure that already-established businesses are taken care of can help lead to expansions, she explained. Throughout the year, SEDC conducted 16 site visits to local businesses, according to McDonald, and they have more coming up. They have had discussions, listened to concerns, and have helped connect local businesses to local resources. SEDC has also worked with businesses that will be a part of upcoming projects like Pacific Soda and Project West, and has pointed them to programs at Western Wyoming Community College that could help meet their needs. 

"To me those are some huge wins for our BRNE program, getting out there and learning more about what our businesses are facing as far as challenges and what they are looking for as far as resources," McDonald said. 

Marketing communications was another major initiative for SEDC, which they worked towards by hiring an intern from Western who is now contracted to continue working with them. They have also worked on further outreach in the community and have plans for developments like an e-newsletter, according to McDonald. 

The final initiative SEDC has focused on is business recruitment. Efforts in this area have included working with the statewide project Insight Consulting, and selecting the former Haliburton building to highlight to try to recruit a customer for, McDonald explained. 

Other projects SEDC is working on include partnering with Uinta County to do a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, working with the new Wyoming Chamber of Commerce group, and helping with the Wyoming Working Together Conference that will be hosted at the Sweetwater Events Complex at the beginning of October. 

"I know it's kind of been a whirlwind, especially with all the economic activity that's on the horizon within Sweetwater County," Chairman West told McDonald. "It's important to grow, as long as it's controlled growth, and I think these efforts with the BRNE and the different recruitments continue to support that."