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.
Tournaments provide an economic boost to the communities they’re held in. Casper makes tens of millions of dollars each year from Wyoming High School culminating events. Natrona County earns this revenue from state wrestling, volleyball, cheerleading, marching band, basketball, and track and field. It takes a lot of work to host these events, but the volunteers in Natrona County realized the economic impact they have on their fellow restaurant, motel, bar, and business owners.
It’s an effort that pays off many times over, and it’s time Riverton steps up to the economic potential hosting similar events will have on the community.
Event Planning:
The loss of the Strannigan Classic basketball tournament to the Sports Ranch in Casper was the catalyst that brought a variety of people together for a meeting at the James H. Moore Career Center on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the potential school sporting events, academic events like the Riverton Invitational Speech Meet and non-school youth events such as USA Wrestling and age level soccer can bring to Riverton.
The good news is that the Strannigan Classic is back next year with eight teams, including the Wolverines, in competition.
In an effort to bring more events and offer more services to athletes and fans, a group of concerned community members, Patrick Edwards, Julie Buller, Terak Brown, Addi Thomas, Mary Axthelm, Cindi Olson, Mark Lenhardt and Josh Saltsgaver met with Riverton Activities Director Max Mills to define the problems tournaments have faced in the past and how to not only remedy those issues, but to find ways to attract more events to Riverton.
Riverton is ideally located to host many different events. In Wyoming, Casper, Gillette, and Cheyenne dominate in hosting athletic events, which, as the three largest towns in the state, is no surprise.
Riverton’s Opportunity:
Riverton is next, hosting more athletic and academic events than any other town west of Casper. We can do even more if the community gets behind the effort.
At the end of the day, if we have everybody on board and going in the same direction we can have something special
There are four major events at Riverton High School in the next few months. The Ron Thon Wrestling Tournament, the Class 2-A West Regional Basketball Tournament, the Class 4-A West Regional Wrestling Tournament, and the Riverton Speech Meet. Each event brings thousands of players, fans, coaches, and officials to Riverton.
Upcoming Events:
- Ron Thon Wrestling Tournament
- Class 4-A West Regional Wrestling Tournament
- Class 2-A West Regional Basketball Tournament
- Riverton Speech Meet
In basketball, Wyoming Indian, Wind River, Thermopolis, and Shoshoni don’t stay overnight in area motels, but they do bring fans who shop, eat meals, and fill up with gas while in Riverton.
The Ron Thon is a three-day event that brings over a thousand boys and girls to the mats at Riverton High School and Riverton Middle School. It is the largest wrestling event in the state, bigger than the all-class state championships.
The Wolverine Speech Meet is one of the largest in the state.
The people at Wednesday’s meeting were looking for ways to help with the current events and ways to bring additional tournaments to Riverton.
Discussion of youth basketball, soccer, and wrestling tournaments with summer camps and even marching band competitions had people thinking of the benefits.
The problem expressed by many visiting teams isn’t motel space, there are always plenty of rooms for every event, but restaurants. Riverton restaurants have issues with staffing. They just can’t get enough help, and the huge crowds that tournaments bring tax their capacity. If teams made reservations well in advance of tournaments, restaurant owners could adjust staff and serve the demand.
Call for Volunteers:
It takes coordination and planning to accomplish this. It takes volunteers who will step in and assist in any way possible.
The overriding point was the need for volunteers. Volunteers to take tickets, to help set up, to serve meals, to act as hosts, to do the little things that Casper has now fine-tuned with their events committee.
They made a call for volunteers to help with the four upcoming events and for assistance with future activities.
If you’re interested, please contact Riverton Activities Director Max Mills here.