Wyoming
Wyoming’s Fun, Quirky Small Towns Could Be A Big Draw For 2024 Tourism
CHEYENNE — Small Wyoming communities have an oversized opportunity to attract new visitors to their communities, thanks to the mood of travelers in 2024, according to experts and analysts at the 2024 Wyoming Governor’s Tourism and Hospitality Convention.
Among the experts speaking to that was tourism expert and industry analyst Carol Rheem, CEO of the company Iolite. She has been tracking tourism and travel trends for 20 years, and her company’s mission is to create actionable data that tourism folks can use in planning winning marketing campaigns.
Rheem recalled how, just after the COVID-19 pandemic, people had so much enthusiasm and excitement for travel, that getting back into it was “like a pack of wild horses racing across the river. People couldn’t wait to start traveling again.”
But that sort of “revenge” tourism quickly settled down, she said. Now, they’re being more careful with the experiences they seek out, and they’re weighing costs a little more carefully now, in the face of high inflation.
But they haven’t curtailed spending completely. Unemployment remains low, and sentiment that the economy is doing OK in spite of challenges remains relatively strong.
What’s popping out of all of this for the tourism sector to pay attention to is a desire for up-close, undiscovered, quirky, immersive experiences — the kinds of activities a lot of smaller towns and communities already have on an undersold menu that’s begging for more attention, Rheem said.
“People want an adventure, they want to do things they’ve never done before,” she said. “That’s been nudging them to more exotic destinations, places that they’re less familiar with. But, the United States is absolutely huge, and there’s so many experiences that really do fit that mood that people are in right now. And Wyoming, I think, is a perfect example of that.”
Requests And Calls Are Already Up
The desire for smaller, more immersive tourism opportunities is something Jen Womack with Sagebrush Marketing, who handles marketing for Devils Tower Country, said she’s already seeing in her area.
“Our requests for visitor guides are strong, our website traffic is strong,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot of interest, so we’re hoping for a really good year.”
Conversations, meanwhile, have already begun about how to cater to the audience that Devils Tower Country is seeing out there, that wants seeking these new and different experiences.
“We want to make sure they’re comfortable, and that they have what they need to figure it out,” Womack said.
The interest in new places and quirky destinations is exciting, RMI Digital Marketing PR Specialist Alyssa Winter told Cowboy State Daily, and it’s something she, too, has already been noticing.
“People are looking for lesser-known destinations than Yellowstone, and those are great locations,” she said. “But the counties that surround those national parks are what really drives home what Wyoming is, I think, and I personally enjoy that more than going into the park. I like seeing what’s outside.”
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Mallory Pollack mixes up an “Ice Palace,” this year’s Backwoods Distilling cocktail for the 2024 Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Convention. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Chris McBarnes at Wyldlife For Tomorrow’s booth at the Wyoming Governors Hospitality and Tourism Conference. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Berkeley Young, president of Young Strategies Inc., breaks down priorities for tourism and travel efforts in 2024 during the Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Conference. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Visit Casper’s Amanda Sewell collects a hat in exchange for her #ThatsWy and #GovCon24 tokens at the Wildly Wyoming booth. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Participants make last-minute connections during the 2024 Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Conference. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Social Media A Game Changer
Part of what Winter sees driving the hunger for quirky destinations are social media influencers who are themselves highlighting lesser-known destinations for their followers.
“You’ve got all these new apps, and people on TikTok going and seeing these new places, and other people are starting to follow suit,” Winter said. “So (those smaller) destinations I think will be a hit in 2024.”
A smart social media plan can make that hunger for quirky, fun destinations low-hanging fruit for a world that’s craving connection, Dylan Scacchetti suggested during a panel discussion on family travel.
Family travel makes up almost 50% of travelers coming to Wyoming.
“Take advantage of your attractions,” he told a packed house at the 2024 Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Conference at the Cheyenne Little America. “You all are experts, indigenous to the locations. You have connection with people who are subject matter experts. You can create and really tap into those family things to do topics and find things that are really unique about your area.”
Reaching out to local experts and linking to each other is one way to elevate each other’s content and make sure search engine metrics are working for everyone, he added.
“We want to make sure that we’re elevating each other,” he said. “We’re not an island. We’re all connected.”
That includes ensuring visibility for off-the-beaten path community attractions on apps like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Maps and the like.
People Aren’t Worried Any More
For a while, travel was oppressed by worries about getting sick again, but her data suggests that all of that is now in the rearview mirror for good, Rheem said.
“People are less concerned about the negative stuff,” she said. “Personal safety is still very important to them, but it’s just not quite as top of mind. And people are a little more adventurous. They want those new experiences, and they’re not going to be so worried about this stuff.”
At the same time, today’s travelers are becoming more mindful than many travelers in the past, Rheem said.
“They want to feel like they’re minimizing their negative impact on the world and being thoughtful about understanding that their money has power,” she said. “They want to go to places that are good actors, that are good to their communities, and that are thinking holistically about things.”
Given that, it’s important for dispersal efforts to the attractions at smaller communities take a thoughtful approach, keeping in mind how much capacity those alternative destinations really have.
“Sometimes when we’re trying to disperse people away from hotspots, you’re in essence putting pressure on smaller designations that don’t have that capacity,” she said. “So, the volume might not be huge, but it can be overwhelming for an individual (community) — you know, restaurants, and hotels, and tours and attractions — to suddenly take on all that volume.”
Successfully leveraging the desire for the fun and quirky and unusual in smaller communities can really help support the success of small businesses and underserved communities across the Cowboy State, Rheem suggested.
“It really isn’t a nominal opportunity,“ she said. “One thing that’s a challenge is how do we measure that? And even, you know, a few years into starting my company, I still don’t have easy answers for this. But I think it’s very much a focus for all of us, because ultimately this is the value that we create, bringing prosperity across all different walks of life.”
Renée Jean can be reached at Renee@CowboyStateDaily.com.
GILLETTE, Wyo. — As the Aug. 18 primary election approaches, County 17 is introducing candidate questionnaires to help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box.
Every candidate in the primary field was sent the same three questions and given a limit of 500 words, which could be distributed among their answers as they saw fit. To ensure a fair and direct line to the community, all responses are published exactly as submitted, without edits or alterations.
Candidates were asked:
- What are the most crucial challenges your constituents are facing?
- If elected, how will you address these challenges?
- What qualities or qualifications do you possess that have prepared you to meet these challenges?
Questionnaires are being published on a rolling basis online through Aug. 11. They will be accessible via the County 17 Election Tracker.
Scott Smith (R), Wyoming state treasurer
What are the most crucial challenges your constituents are facing?
Everywhere I go many Wyoming citizens are concerned that our government is selling out our state lands to the highest bidder for crony capitalism. Some are concerned about Data Centers, Commercial Wind Generators, or nuclear waste storage. The biggest concern is the resources these outfits are taking, secondly, they are concerned about health issues related to living nearby, and lastly they are concerned with cost associated with these projects being passed onto the taxpayer.
If elected, how will you address these challenges?
One of the things that many people don’t know is that the State Treasurer sits on the State Land and Investment Board. (SLIB) The same issues that concern our citizens are the same reasons that I have decided to run for this office. The SLIB has voted to lease state lands to a hydrogen plant in Converse County that would take eight gallons of our valuable water to produce one gallon of hydrogen jet fuel using wind and solar generation to power the plant. These same elected officials have sold off $100 million of our state lands to the federal government. I believe that some things are not for sale. As Treasurer you can count on me to count the cost and listen to the people in the public testimony. If we are going to accept some of these projects the citizens need to have the benefit, like lower utility costs.
What qualities/qualifications do you possess that have prepared you to meet these challenges?
My bachelor’s degree is in Business Administration with an emphasis in management and marketing. I will be a leader in the state treasurer’s office that creates a positive work environment that will allow our investment team to create higher returns on the people’s money that the state invests. I would like to work with the legislature to use these interest earnings to buy down the people’s property taxes to alleviate part of the burden inflation has caused on the average citizen. My day job, I work as a bookkeeper and work with numbers day in and day out and have corrected some inefficiencies to help small businesses become more profitable. I plan to do that within the state office and make those profits available to the legislature to reduce the tax burden for the people. I have also served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for Goshen County and I have served on the Appropriations Committee and I am familiar with the massive state budget.
Related
Scroll down for a list of fireworks restrictions across Wyoming.
I usually don’t buy fireworks for the 4th of July. I go places to watch them. But since this year is the 250th anniversary of our nation, I was going to purchase a small arsenal and have a blast, pardon the pun.
But this has been a very dry year, as happens now and then in the cycles of weather. So I figured I’d wait until things were wet again and just hold my personal celebration a little late.
Many towns across Wyoming have canceled their July 4th fireworks due to the drought. They don’t want you firing off any either.
Based on 2026 reports, several Wyoming towns and counties have canceled or significantly restricted Fourth of July fireworks displays due to high wildfire risks, drought conditions, and Stage 1 fire restrictions.
Canceled/Restricted Public Displays (2026)
- Gillette/Campbell County: The CAM-PLEX fireworks show was postponed, and the county is maintaining a Stage 1 fire restriction due to extreme drought.
- Douglas: The Volunteer Fire Department canceled the 4th of July fireworks show due to fire concerns.
- Newcastle: Fireworks show canceled due to high fire danger, according to a June 27 report.
- Pine Haven: Canceled its Fourth of July fireworks display, according to a June 27 report.
- Riverton: Passed a resolution banning personal fireworks within city limits on July 4, with only a limited, designated area for public displays at the Honeycutt Softball and Saban Baseball Complex.
- Teton County: Fireworks have been historically canceled, and fire officials are urging residents to only attend official, professional displays due to extreme fire danger (confirmed for 2026).
City-Wide Personal Fireworks Bans (2026)
- Cheyenne: Consumer fireworks are prohibited within city limits, despite the county lifting restrictions, with only small novelties allowed.
- Casper: Fireworks are prohibited within city limits and in unincorporated Natrona County.
Key Locations Under Restrictions (2026)
- BLM Land: Fireworks are prohibited on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming.
- Weston County: A county-wide ban covers Newcastle and Upton due to high drought conditions.
Even little Chugwater, Wyoming, population 175, has banned fireworks inside its little town limits.
At the State Capital in Cheyenne, however, they will go right ahead with a fireworks display, right over the capital building itself. Dry weather be dammed.
Weird Fireworks Names You’ll Find In Wyoming
Just some of the odd names we found while shopping.
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
Media outlets gasped last week at the socialist movement’s success in the New York congressional Democratic primary elections.
That success headed west Tuesday, to Wyoming’s southern neighbor of Colorado.
Democratic socialist Melat Kiros, 29, defeated 15-term incumbent U.S. House Rep. Diana DeGette in Tuesday evening’s primary election.
Colorado Public Radio called the ouster “a stunning blow to the Democratic establishment in Denver and continuing a run of leftist victories in major cities.”
Former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan, a Dvemocrat, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he wasn’t surprised at the move by Denver voters, but he doubted the proximity of a House socialist – if Kiros wins the general election – will affect Wyoming much.
“We have our own issues, and we’re certainly more sensitive to certain issues than others,” Sullivan said. “And it doesn’t necessarily divide us or make us closer to anybody else.”
Could Deepen ‘Don’t Colorado My Wyoming’ Sentiment
Liz Brimmer, longtime Wyoming politico, agreed in general, but said having a socialist congressional neighbor could galvanize Wyoming even harder into a tendency it already has: spurning anything that looks like Colorado governance.
“I think Wyoming uniformly and strongly feels, you know, ‘Don’t Colorado my Wyoming’,” Brimmer said. “And I think if anything, it deepens that sentiment.”
Brimmer said the ouster speaks of “these times, where there’s no doubt an anti-incumbent strain.” But no one will know all the reasons, nor should presume too much, until the voter data return, she said.
The Republicans saw the anti-incumbent strain surface differently, with newcomers ousting President Donald Trump’s foes in GOP primary elections.
State Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who is finishing off his final legislative term, voiced fascination with the election outcome.
Brown, a self-described political junkie, lives about 14 miles from the Colorado border.
He said the ouster shows Denver is increasingly dictating the rest of Colorado’s fate, and that the state is growing more polarized.
On the Republican gubernatorial primary side, The Associated Press was showing a half-point lead for Victor Marx as of Wednesday.
“He’s just as crazy as a democratic socialist on the left,” said Brown.
As for DeGette’s defeat, it’s not as symptomatic as one would think, he added.
“She was running a ‘Hey, I’m the incumbent and I’ve been here 30 years’ (campaign),” he said.
That hurt her. As did a growing divide on the left over Israel’s approach to its many foes — and Congress’ funding of Israeli war and defense efforts, said Brown.
Israel was also a fulcrum in the May primary loss of libertarian-leaning incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky. But the Republican voters took the inverse approach on that one, nominating the candidate who supports funding Israeli war efforts.
Jack Speight, the GOP strategist who helped Wyoming Gov. Stan Hathaway to victory in 1966, told Cowboy State Daily Kiros’ win is alarming.
Speight was a Democrat when he graduated from the University of Wyoming law school. But the allure of capitalism and the prevailing logic of his good friends pulled him to the Republican side, he said in another interview last month.
The socialist victories of 2026 are “sad for this country. It may well affect the results of this fall, and nationwide,” he said. He called it a shift of California transplants into the Rockies, and a symptom of a growing entitlement.
Look North
Colorado isn’t the only Wyoming neighbor with socialist momentum.
Sam Forstag, a smoke jumper endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-New York, won his primary bid for Montana’s U.S. House District 1 on June 2.
Forstag may be less favored than Kiros going into the general election: No Democrat has won that Montana House district this century.
The New York Times called Forstag’s candidacy a “test for left-leaning politicians” who have been arguing for a populist surge in the blue party.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
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