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Hospitality rooms are more than a cookie, some coffee, or maybe a free lunch; they are a place where coaches, bus drivers, tournament workers, and officials can take a load off their feet for a few minutes, socialize a bit, re-energize, and get back to work.
Hospitality rooms are legendary around Fremont County. The ones at Wyoming Indian during the Fremont County Shootout were legendary. The one at Shoshoni for the Wrangler Classic Basketball Tournament, the Clash at the Crossroads Wrestling Tournament, and the Class 1-A/2-A West Regional Track Meet under the supervision of Mistalyn Steffen and her able, energetic assistant Emily Jarvis are exemplary as well.
While these are spectacular venues, they can’t compare to the volume, intensity, and sheer numbers of visitors that the Ron Thon Memorial Wrestling Tournament can bring.
Riverton Culinary Arts Teacher Kelly Gard has accepted the challenge of feeding hundreds of coaches, workers, bus drivers, and officials with a smile and a great amount of on-her-feet adaptability.
Gard and her husband, Lance, manned the hospitality room in her classroom just across the hall from the Riverton High School Counselor’s Offices for three hectic days. She was assisted by Erica Thoman, the wife of Riverton Head Coach Bobby Thoman, along with help from Melania Walker, Christina Mills, Riverton Assistant Superintendent and wife of Riverton Activities Director, Max Mills, and an entire cadre of Kelly’s high school students.
Lance Gard graduated from Riverton High School in 1995, and Kelly was a 1999 graduate of West Albany, Oregon.
She went to Oregon State University, where she graduated with a degree in Family Science and Early Education, but elementary school wasn’t for her.
“I didn’t like the kids touching me so much,” Kelly said. “So, I stayed home with my kids.”
She was a realtor for a while, a realtor with a master’s degree in education, as Oregon requires of its certified teachers.
She wasn’t thrilled with real estate either.
Legendary Riverton Home Economics teacher Pam Rivers was about to retire.
“Pam called me and said, ‘Why don’t you apply for my position?’” Kelly said. “Pam is the one who started me on this.”
Pam ran an outstanding hospitality room, sometimes in the Riverton High School Band Room, sometimes in the Riverton Aquatic Center Classroom, and sometimes in her Home Economics Room.
“In my interview, they asked me if I would do the Ron Thon hospitality room,“ Kelly said. “Pam set the precedent, but the tournament is getting bigger.”
Kelly’s first year was a rocky one, it was 2019-2020, the COVID epidemic.
She’s established herself since that tempestuous beginning and now offers a very popular selection of classes at RHS.
She teaches Culinary Arts I and II, Baking and Pastry, and Fashion Design and Sewing.
The student workers who make the Ron Thon hospitality room possible come from her classes.
She is ably assisted by Erica Thoman.
“Erica and I have the menus set before Christmas,” Kelly said. “If we have the Strannigan Basketball Tournament, we usually have it before then. After Christmas, all my Culinary II students do is prep for the Ron Thon.”
Prep includes preparing and freezing desserts and frying hamburger meat for tacos.
“It took two days of class to cook the hamburger, and two more days to make the dirt cups before we froze them,” Kelly said.
The Ron Thon has always been the largest wrestling tournament in the state, but recently it has expanded even further with the addition of a Thursday girls’ bracket. The tournament was originally two days, now it’s three.
“The first year we had 200 people go through the hospitality room,” Kelly said. “Now it’s 400 and sometimes we run out of food.”
The backup is a standard for anyone who has ever fed a large group, spaghetti.
They serve lunch and dinner on Thursday, three meals on Friday, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday.
Kelly also operates the hospitality room for the Class 2-A West Regional tournamen,t and the menu preferences for wrestling and basketball coaches are vastly different.
“Wrestling coaches want a lot heavier meal. They want lasagna, pulled pork, and as much meat as possible,” Kelly said. “And they drink a lot of coffee.”
“We served 100 cups of coffee before 8 am on Friday,” Lance said.
Without stereotyping, there is a difference between the menu preferences of basketball and wrestling coaches.
“I might do something light like spaghetti for basketball,” Kelly said. “They like it lighter, sandwiches and salads. I love a good pasta salad, but it doesn’t fly here.”
Kelly Gard is on the technological cusp when it comes to menu preparation for large groups.
“I go to ChatGPT and type in a menu for 400,” she said. “Then I adjust it.”
It’s a grueling three days for everyone, but especially for the staff that has to have meals ready throughout the tournament or snacks, coffee, and beverages constantly.
“I haven’t left this room in three days,” Kelly said.
“They want lunch at 10:30 and dinner at 3,” Lance said. “They start lining up for breakfast at 5:30 am.”
When the food gets short, they start hauling stuff out of the freezers.
“Arby’s catered last night,” Lance said. “We had a little left over. This morning, we made their roast beef sandwiches into breakfast sandwiches. They owe us if this ever takes off.”
The hospitality room wouldn’t be what it is without the generous support of outside people.
“James Bunker, the former owner of Bunk’s Barbecue, donated 100 pounds of pulled pork,” Kelly said.
The ground beef for Friday’s tacos came from Riverton head coach Bobby Thoman’s Lost Wells Cattle Company. They donated 135 pounds of hamburger for the tournament.
Arby’s donated for the Friday dinner, the largest of the tournament.
Kelly had praise for Erica Thoman.
“Having Erica has really changed the game,” Kelly said. “She put a voice to it and made it work.”
Events as impressive as the Ron Thon don’t just magically come into being; it takes planning, dedication, and diligence for an event to be successful.
There are many behind-the-scenes efforts that largely go unnoticed in any event, especially an event of this magnitude. Kelly and Lance Gard, her students, and the wider community are to be thanked for the effort.