The Wind River Visitors Council (WRVC) recently wrapped up the Wind River Rally, part of a vanlife event series in celebration of gathering in beautiful places. The WRVC partnered with the Journal of Lost Time for this event, which took place from June 23 to 26 in Hudson. It had county-wide excursions and evening events, including the Lander Presents Summer Series featuring the Lil Smokies at Lander City Park, Taste of Riverton at Riverton City Park and live music, kickball games and a variety of food in downtown Hudson. This event focused on Leave No Trace principles, clean-ups and exploring beautiful places. It brought in 128 vans, 191 ticketed participants and 25 staff/volunteer vehicles.
Data from a participant survey shows that:
– Time in Wind River Country
• 62% stayed for the event plus four additional days
• 21% stayed for the event plus an additional week
• 9% percent stayed for the event plus 10 or more days
• 4% percent stayed for the event plus two weeks or more
• 4% percent stayed for just the event.
– All participants except for one responded that they were “likely” or “highly likely” to return to Wind River Country.
– Average spendings were $623 per person. (At 191 ticketed participants, that’s around $118,993.)
– Sponsors, staff and volunteers spent about $25,000.
– The estimated direct economic impact of the whole event was around $143,993.
Now that the Wind River Rally is complete for this year, the WRVC is focusing on our next event, a Continental Divide Trail Gateway Community Designation Ceremony for Lander-South Pass City. The WRVC partnered with the University of Wyoming, Wind River Outdoor Recreation Collaborative and the Continental Divide Trail Coalition to try to get Dubois and Lander-South Pass City recognized as Gateway Communities for the Continental Divide Trail. This was a senior project in the Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management degree program at the University of Wyoming, and three students spent their spring semester working on the project. While the Dubois designation is on hold for now, the Lander-South Pass City designation has been approved. A designation ceremony takes place on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m. at the Coalter Loft in Lander. Please join the Wind River Visitors Council and the Continental Divide Trail Coalition for appetizers and an evening of celebration, including Mayor Richardson signing a proclamation to finalize the designation.
Following are some of the WRVC’s other current projects.
Go Beyond Yellowstone to Riverton, Wyoming
The WRVC recently completed a new promotional video for Riverton.
TravelStorys
The WRVC is working with the Northern Arapaho Economic Development Commission on the completion of a Wind River Indian Reservation Audio Tour. The tour currently has 10 Eastern Shoshone sites, and 10 Northern Arapaho sites are being added. The full tour is scheduled to be released this year.
Events
Do you have events that you’d like posted to the Wind River Visitors Council’s website, which automatically posts to the Wyoming Office of Tourism website and County 10? Please send any 2022 events, packages, news, etc. to Melanie Hoefle (the Wind River Visitors Council’s Community Engagement Manager) at [email protected]. She can also get you Wind River Visitors Council vacation guides, driving tours, Continental Divide Trail information and/or the Wyoming and Utah Pioneer Trails Auto Tour brochure.
Mission: The Wind River Visitors Council’s mission is to stimulate tourism by increasing awareness of, and encouraging visitation to, the unique destinations, activities and events in Wind River Country.
