Hot Springs County Tour 23 Report is in

The Hot Springs County Tour 23 Report is in and upon inspection, several themes emerge.

The report came from a workshop last spring where a group of community members were selected to discuss the past, present, and future of Hot Springs County – an activity that was conducted in all of Wyoming’s 23 counties - in an effort to identify themes across the state that will be discussed at the Governor’s economic forum in November.

Looking back can sometimes be helpful when preparing for the future and that was the first step for the Tour 23 Hot Springs County work group. Hallmark events were identified starting in the early 1900’s to late 1900’s and members identified meaningful events such as the start of the Wyoming National Bank, the rise and fall of Gebo, growing coal and oil fields, establishment of the state park and the hospital, the state’s first water slide, building of the dam, and the establishment of the Pioneer Home and companies like Empire Refinery. The group noted significantly more hallmark events in past time frames than in current times where key highlights included the start of the Dinosaur Center, local retail growth, Wyoming Whiskey, and population aging.

“Everyone realizes energy is not here like it once was and we have to compensate for that loss,” said Director of Tourism Amanda Moeller. This loss of economy was discussed in great detail and a goals discussion for Hot Spring County’s economic growth began. 

The state of the county’s current situation was discussed but the group appeared to be divided as to whether the county was moving forward, maintaining, or declining. Key beliefs for economic development were more concise, however, with group agreement on the need for community buy-in and growth as a key for development.  

Health and tourism were identified as major industry opportunities. The working group listed, “Becoming Wyoming’s health and wellness center,” as a specific goal. Several objectives toward this goal included the establishment of businesses that support health and wellness tourism, hospice retreat, new hospital, and private nursing homes as well as cleaner living efforts such as further developing walk and bike pathways and general beautification efforts for the town. 

Tourism has been identified as another key industry for the state of Wyoming and the working group saw this as another potential area for growth. Moeller noted on the subject, “When gas prices are low, we as a state are suffering but everybody else in the country is traveling and they’re wanting to travel to places like Wyoming. We [in Thermopolis] have a lot more opportunity than a lot of other towns.”

The end result of this workshop and Tour 23 is unknown. Moeller commented that she was unsure what would happen at the state level, but that Hot Springs County has been able to work together so far. In fact, multiple productive efforts such as updating billboards and signage, creating a lawn maintenance assistance program with the Bank of Thermopolis, and community coffee workshops to encourage brainstorming have all come about from the Tour 23 effort. 

To get involved in this effort, Moeller welcomes any county resident to attend a community coffee event which is held every other Thursday at 7 a.m. in the hospital cafeteria.