Riverton City Council approves $90K in Tourism Asset Development funding

(Riverton, WY) – The Riverton City Council approved $90,000 in Tourism Asset Development funding for 17 local organizations this month.

The funding comes out of Fremont County’s lodging tax revenue and is intended to provide direct support to municipalities for tourism-related projects, according to a Feb. 3 memo from city staff.

“Funds are distributed to municipalities based on the percentage of lodging tax generated within each community during the previous year,” the memo states. “Each municipality establishes a promotion committee to review applications and recommend funding priorities.”

This year, Riverton’s promotion committee included Councilmembers Mike Bailey, Karla Borders, and Karen Johnson, who reviewed the 22 applications that came in for the 2026 TAD funding cycle.

In total, the applicants requested $151,320 in funding this year – significantly more than the $90,000 budgeted for the program spending in 2026.

“Obviously, those are not easy decisions,” Bailey said. “(There were) a lot of good projects.”

Almost all of the applicants received less money than requested this year, including:

• 1838 Rendezvous Association (requested $5,000, awarded $2,000)
• Depot Foundation (Rack Cards) (requested $500, awarded $250)
• Depot Foundation (Vinyl Displays) (requested $1,500, awarded $1,000)
• Fremont County Air Service Team (requested $10,000, awarded $8,000)
• Fremont County Corn Hole (requested $2,000, awarded $1,000)
• Fremont County Fair (requested $10,000, awarded $8,000)
• Fremont County Library (Riverton Branch) (requested $3,000, awarded $1,000)
• Fremont County Museum (Riverton) (requested $1,000, awarded $500)
• Friends of Fremont County Fair (requested $1,500, awarded $750)
• Riverton Raiders (requested $15,000, awarded $7,000)
• Riverton Rendezvous Committee (requested $13,000, awarded $10,000)
• Riverton Youth Soccer Association (requested $10,000, awarded $5,000)
• Rocky Mountain Rebels Car Club Summer Show (requested $3,500, awarded $3,000)
• Rocky Mountain Rebels Car Club Winter Show (requested $600, awarded $500)
• Wind River Rodeo Roundup (requested $2,000, awarded $1,000)
• Wyoming Weapons Collectors Association (requested $4,500, awarded $1,000)
• Visitors Center (Riverton Chamber) (requested $28,200, awarded $20,000)

Two applicants received their full funding request:

• Riverton 250 Semiquincentennial Committee (requested $15,000)
• Riverton AutoCross (requested $1,000)

Bailey said the committee also recommended reserving $4,000 as a contingency or “new opportunity” fund to be used in case an unanticipated tourism project arises later in the year that could bring visitors to Riverton.

Three applicants were not recommended for funding:

• Depot Foundation (Travel Stories) (requested $11,500)
• PAWS for Life Animal League (requested $2,500)
• Riverton Aquatic Center (requested $10,000)

Staff said the projects that weren’t recommended for funding “either did not meet program criteria, lacked sufficient readiness for 2026 implementation, or exceeded available program resources.”

For more information, call the City of Riverton at (307) 856-2227.