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    Riverton Downtowners announce approval as a Wyoming Main Street ‘Aspiring Community’

    (Riverton, WY) – Moving forward in their mission and efforts for the improvement and beautification of Main Street, the Riverton Downtowners were unanimously approved on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, by the Wyoming Business Council Main Street program as an “Aspiring Community.”

    Members of the Wyoming Main Street Advisory Board met with the Riverton Downtowners Board in an in-person and video-conferenced interview meeting hosted at Central Wyoming College. The interview was the final phase in the process of the Downtowners achieving their Aspiring Community status.

    The Riverton Downtowners group was established in 1995 with the purpose of beautifying Riverton’s Main Street, working with the City of Riverton on beautification projects such as planting flowers and trees, the purchase of Christmas decorations, and embedding the river design on the sidewalks. Experiencing several challenges through the years which included COVID in 2020, the group continued to meet and discuss ways in which they could take steps forward in the welfare and economic development of Main Street’s business community.

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    In August 2022, the group invited Kayla Kler and Patrick Edwards of the Wyoming Main Street Coordinating Program to give a presentation and give direction on what their program could do to further the Downtowners’ mission. In October, the Downtowners’ board agreed and voted to apply for the Main Street program and submitted their application for acceptance as an Aspiring Community.

    “We are so excited to welcome Riverton as our newest Main Street community,” said WY Main Street Manager Kayla Kler. “The Downtowners have demonstrated community engagement and volunteerism with the existing events happening downtown, and now they will move into more complex areas, like encouraging economic growth through physical enhancements and beautification. The Main Street network and program should open up new partnerships, ideas, and resources to start tackling more complex projects.”

    “We’ve been working on this for about a year,” said Traci Cooper, President of what is now called the Riverton Downtowners Main Street Alliance. “None of us had any idea what we were in for…the application, the interview, meeting the amazing Wyoming Business Council board members…I feel we have learned so much about how we can help our businesses, and also have fun doing it.”

    According to Kler, the Main Street Approach is intended to be a holistic model for growth and revitalization for a downtown, “listening to community feedback to determine your direction and recruiting volunteers to help do the work are both important components to Main Street,” she said.

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    Patrick Edwards, Wyoming Main Street’s West Central Regional Director for Fremont, Sublette, and Teton counties said that he is “looking forward to what you all are able to do as a Main Street community.”

    For more information about the Riverton Downtowners Main Street Alliance, visit their website at rivertondowntowners.org or e-mail [email protected]

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