Chamber of Commerce

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 the Cokeville Chamber of Commerce met at 7:30 pm in the Cokeville Town Hall at the Cokeville Senior Center. Stewart Petersen, President, opened the meeting. Clara Dayton, Treasurer, read the account balances. Bills have been paid including Traci Pinter being reimbursed for the Easter Egg Hunt expenses.

A big thank you to Traci Pinter and sister Katie Martinez for the very fun Easter Egg Hunt. The girls organized the event on a small budget allocated from the Chamber and the town and it was a lot of fun! Thanks ladies.

Report - Stewart met with Lee Chaloner (?) at the Kemmerer Rock Quarry, Cumberland Hearth and Stone. There wasn't quite the size we were looking for of a rock for the town sign. We are looking for about 12 ft. wide and 7-8 ft. tall. It will sit on a base of about 24 feet. The sign will be really visible. Stewart also has the WYDOT paperwork for the permit and he needs to get with John Reed for the exact location. The sign has to have a 30 foot crash barrier distance. The sign will be placed angular.

Clara Dayton will do the 4th of July program. She says she has a new idea she's going to try. Stewart thanked Clara for keeping this program going.


Karla Toomer will again be the director of the Cokeville Rendezvous Arts and Business Fair. She will do the planning, advertising, and setting up the event but will be gone the 2nd half of July and all of August. Clara Dayton will take over director duties on the days of the event and is looking for someone else to help with those duties. The Chamber will be hiring overnight security guards for Friday night. Other volunteers are needed to help run the event on July 25-26. More information forthcoming.

Again, the Chamber will work hard to have the event compliment the time schedule of the Pioneer Days celebration on Saturday in the town held by the LDS Church. Friday the Chamber will plan most of the local talent shows including the 2nd annual "Miss Cokeville Contest". On Saturday, vendors may sit at their booths as early as they want but the actual event will be advertised as being open from approximately 1-6, after the Pioneer Days parade and program have ended. Other groups, including volunteers of a 5K run last year and the Rodeo Club have also successfully hosted events for visitors and locals to enjoy during this time of increased town population.

Stewart reported on the "Town Sign" Project and progress and reported that a match grant of $5000 has been awarded to the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has $3000 in reserve from a few years back. They are still around $2000 shy on materials and will ask the Town Council on Tuesday's council meeting to contribute to the "Cokeville Sign". Volunteers will be needed for some of the labor. This will be a big, beautiful sign.

Stewart will get with Carol Reed, who was absent due to illness, for help on finishing next year's budget proposal to give to the town of Cokeville. The Chamber is given a minimum of the lodging tax monies collected to use on tourism related projects. The use of this tax money is State regulated. The town usually gives additional funding to the Chamber from their monies received from the State of Wyoming each fiscal year.