Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
He came from Niobrara County, a graduate of the high school in Lusk. Ron was the son of Bernard and Betty Thon. Bernard was a house painter, and their son Ron followed in his dad’s footsteps during the summer months.
Ron wrestled at Lusk during the heyday of Niobrara County athletics. He went on to wrestle at the University of Nebraska, while teammates Doyle Davies wrestled for the Wyoming Cowboys and three-time heavyweight state champion Tommy Thompson took a scholarship to Norman, Oklahoma to wrestle and play football for the Sooners.
Ron was a friend, and Doyle remains one.
For those who knew Ron Thon, he had an infectious, almost impish grin, and he had not a trace of a poker face.
His partner in crime during the summer painting season was fellow District 25 school counselor Lonell Hennings. They were the “Mutt and Jeff” characters of summertime teaching jobs. Lonell was a huge guy, and Ron wrestled at 125 pounds.
I worked in construction and painting the summer months as well. I purchased a Sears electric paint sprayer one spring and used it often.
Ron heard me talking about it one day, and later that summer he and Lonell came by the house asking to borrow it. No problem, I told them.
Three weeks later they pulled up in Lonell’s truck, but without the paint sprayer. Ron came up holding two cases of beer and wore that same grin.
“I hope you like Budweiser,” he said. “We burned up your paint gun.”
It was classic Ron Thon. The following summer, Ron and I worked together painting the homeless shelter that has since burned down next to St. James Episcopal Church in Riverton.
I just wanted to bring to life the man that the best wrestling tournament in Wyoming, the Ron Thon Memorial, was named after.
This year’s Ron Thon was a success on the mat, as it always is, thanks to the tireless efforts of district staff and a bevy of volunteers, but it was a success for another reason. Hopefully, this started a trend that will continue through all major events, both athletic, school-associated, and otherwise.
The Riverton Chamber of Commerce, under new director Cindy Olson-Roden, took the effort to bring food trucks to the back parking lot of Riverton High School for the event.
That might not seem like much, but it was. No one had attempted this before.
Food trucks arrived on Thursday during the girls’ portion of the tournament and stayed through Saturday afternoon.
Gary’s Rojo O Verde, Brewed Awakening, Troy’s Rollin Chuck Wagon, Hangry’s and Dos Salitos all set up near the rear entrance to Riverton High School just north of the James H. Moore Career Center.
I dropped by Friday afternoon to ask them how business had been at the tournament. They all had lines in front of their windows with generators purring away, and smoke or steam rising above.
I approached the Hangry’s truck first, waited until he’d taken a couple of orders and did a brief interview.
“Was this worth it?” I asked.
“It was dead Thursday morning, I had my doubts,” the guy at the window said. “But it picked up Thursday afternoon and it’s been good today.”
He thought lack of advertising inside the tournament caused the slow start. Word of mouth spread among the fans and the next two days were much better.
I asked the same question at Brewed Awakening and Gary’s Rojo O Verde.
There wasn’t a lull at all, the gal at Brewed Awakening reported. She said business had been brisk since they opened Thursday morning.
At Gary’s, I assumed it was Gary I spoke with, it was busy, with a couple of junior high school girls from Lyman, bouncing up and down outside the service window trying to stay warm as he prepared their order.
“It’s been great,” he said. “We’ve been busy.”
When I asked him if he would come back to possibly work the Class 2-A West Regional Basketball Tournament at the end of this month, he said he’d like to do that.
I didn’t stop at Troy’s Rollin Chuck Wagon, the line was too long.
In a related event, the feedback from my story, “Riverton Chamber Steps Up,” drew a lot of attention on Facebook from other local businesses.
They indicated they were extending hours to accommodate wrestling teams and the fans following them.
They should; this is “harvest time” for Riverton.
In Jackson, it’s harvest time 365 days a year. In Cheyenne, Frontier Days brings in a tremendous amount of money to the capital city as is evidenced by four to five hundred percent increases in motel rooms during the last three full weeks in July each year.
Laramie is now jacking up motel rates for Wyoming Cowboy home games during football season.
Tournaments are harvest time for local food service businesses as much as September is for beet farmers and first and second cuttings are for alfalfa operations.
During last year’s Class 2-A West Regional Basketball tournament I received a lot of calls from coaches outside the county asking where they could feed their teams. Many of the restaurants either closed early or shut down completely during the evening hours of the tournament.
It made me angry and I challenged the Riverton Chamber of Commerce to step forward and get local businesses involved with the tournaments that come to Riverton.
I know they didn’t like the message, or being called out, but new chamber director Cindy Olson-Roden has stepped up and taken the bull by the horns.
The Chamber is now aware of these events, although the motels in town already knew by watching their prices rise when one was in town.
I don’t care, its business, and it represents a “harvest time” opportunity to bring in a little more revenue while offering a memorable weekend to hundreds of high school students, and thousands of fans.
Thanks for the effort, Cindy and staff. Let’s hope this is just the beginning of something much bigger.