Main Street events for fall and holidays

Thursday July 23’s meeting started with an early discussion about holiday promotions for the Main Street Thermopolis board meeting. Small Town Saturday is still the main focus for holiday promotions with more than five downtown businesses already enrolled.

In order to have the event sponsored by American Express, the promotion must have a featured event and at least 10 businesses registered no later than November 9. The Main Street group brainstormed event ideas and decided the promotion would be a good time to sell the Thermopolis Christmas ornament.

It was also discussed to tie in fundraising efforts for town Christmas lights, which would replace and add to the current town lights. With some time available before deadline, the group decided to continue brainstorming for the event.

Main Street Manager, Lea Schoenewald, reported that Central Bank and Trust donated an office for the group as well as a meeting space for monthly meetings.

The office is ready to use, but she will begin researching phone and Internet costs. Schoenewald has also been setting up meetings for Main Street training and working with County Assessor Shelley Deromedi to learn how the state assesses downtown businesses so that she will be able to better advise business owners.

She reported that the Main Street website is still in progress and a domain name should be established soon. The board’s reinvestment report showed that in the last quarter approximately $600,000 was reinvested by downtown business owners and several new jobs were created. Shoenewald stated the report was submitted to Wyoming Main Street and shared with the town and county.

The largest, fast-approaching event for Main Street Thermopolis dominated the evening’s discussion: Oktobrewfest. An event time line was reviewed in detail showing significant progress. One band, Different Tree, has been confirmed for the event with multiple other bands tentatively on schedule. Gillette Brewing Company, Ten Sleep Brewing, and One Eyed Buffalo have confirmed attendance at the brewfest. Snake River Brewing and Clear Creek Brewing Company are interested in attending but have not yet confirmed.

One Eyed Buffalo (OEB) owner, Damien Oliver, requested to set up a separate beer garden in front of his establishment for OEB beer. Members discussed how two beer gardens would affect foot traffic and liability concerns and decided to talk with main distributor, Cindy Ellison, and Oliver about these concerns.

Sponsorship forms were edited and agreed to send to previous sponsors and be included in the Chamber newsletter. Larger, less wordy posters will be designed and distributed; and radio, television, and billboard advertisements will be scheduled with assistance from the Travel and Tourism board.

Food, and non-food vendor forms have been completed and vendors are still being asked to participate in the event. T-shirts are in the final stage of completion and will be available for sale before and during the event.

There will be several new additions for Oktobrewfest this year: safe rides to and from the event will be offered and adult games, such as Corn Hole and Beer Pong, are scheduled to encourage adult participation.