Downtowners Spotlight: Riverton Chamber & Visitors Center

Cindy Olsen-Roden wears many hats when it comes to being the Executive Director of the Riverton Chamber and Visitor Center. Located at 524 East Main Street, the Chamber provides benefits not only through its memberships, but offers diverse support and value for the economic development of Riverton.

“Our Chamber members are the biggest value to our community,” Cindy said. “We have a ton of resources, and we try to get information out via our weekly newsletter, e-mail blasts, our Facebook page…if our businesses are running a special, have announcements, events, open houses…we help provide that promotional outlet.”

Not just present for ribbon-cuttings and business-related events, the Chamber dives deeper into the information and resources it can provide. One of the offerings include their After Hours Networking events where a few businesses are highlighted, and a time where business owners and managers can meet with others to network.

“I think networking is underestimated,” Cindy said. “In a small town, it’s super important. A lot of times it’s about the connections you can make and maybe see what one can do to help the other or learn some techniques, share ideas. So we encourage that.”

The Lunch and Learn is also an event held once a month, where the Chamber will provide lunch and bring in a presentation. “We usually try to center it around some kind of educational information piece to businesses,” she said. “We also throw in some community-type presentations as well.”

As a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wyoming State Chamber, the Riverton Chamber does advocacy for local businesses. Cindy said that those two entities–especially the U.S. Chamber of Commerce–are heavily involved in legislation on the national and state level when it comes to legislation bills that affect small businesses.

“I get one or two emails from the U.S. Chamber and Wyoming Chamber during the week,” she said. “But during the legislative sessions, we get on a weekly call through the whole legislative time…our state Chamber is watching bills and we get on there and we talk: ‘Watch this bill, this is what this bill would do…” Sometimes they’ll say we need a call to action, such as, ‘This is going to affect small businesses in Wyoming, reach out to your membership and have them write their legislators and tell them how this is going to affect them.’ So advocacy is important, and you don’t see a lot of it because things do kind of work out. But it’s there.”

The Chamber knows the importance of Riverton’s economic development. Cindy also said that they have to be careful when it comes to other things like the proposed three-quarters cent sales tax. “As a Chamber, we cannot take a stance,” she said. “But I’m a big believer in getting informed and educated about the issues, and so that’s what we’re doing with the Lunch and Learns. We’ve had Tim Nichols of WRTA come in and talk about that portion of the sales tax and why Fremont County needs this, the costs…you know, what is the big picture. Then you can ask your questions.”

Aside from advocacy, education, and the meetings/events the Chamber sponsors, there are also the benefits of membership for business owners. Though it’s not her job to know all there is to know about the businesses in Fremont County, Cindy said it is her job to know the resources. The Chamber works with local and state organizations such as the Wyoming SBDC, local job and workforce services, and CWC, to name a few.

“The Wyoming SBDC is a wealth of information for businesses, I’ve sent several people to our representative,” she said. “Knowing where to send members when they need help. What problems are you facing, what’s keeping you up at night? What’s holding you back from expanding?”

Another important hat that the Chamber wears is the one that serves tourism. The Chamber as a visitor’s center on Main Street has kiosks with brochures, pamphlets, and cards from the Wind River Visitors Council and other tourism-related businesses and organizations. The Chamber was also the instrumental lead organization in the planning of the 250th Anniversary parade and event in City Park.

“Tourism in Riverton is hard,” Cindy said. “We’re not really a destination, we’re a ‘drive-through’. We do have a visitors center–we have our Visitor’s Guide that we just put out, and it’s a starting point. We really want to center on Riverton and our big events…this is what I want to get into the hands of our visitors. Stay here. Go to Lander, go to Dubois for a day. Go do Boysen, the Wind River Canyon. You can stay here for a few hours, a day, or four or five nights, and do a lot of things.”

“Of course, we're in tourism because it helps our businesses,” she continued. “We get TAD funding, and there’s the lodging tax. We have our retail businesses and restaurants. We have relationships with the Wind River Casino, CWC, our museum. So yes, every dollar spent by visitors who come here is very important. It goes all the way through our community.”

When asked what she thought of her role when she came in as the director of the Chamber, and what success looks like in a town the size of Riverton, Cindy said it’s all about strengthening through collaboration. “People have gone off and have done their own thing for whatever reason, but I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, we should be working together!’ Refer business to each other, be a resource for each other, serve each other.”

As far as Riverton’s Main Street, Cindy said that our downtown businesses are vital and unique, and her approach is “always one of how the Chamber can help,” she said. “What I consider downtown business are retailers, so most of the businesses on Main are focused on the shopping part of it. We have a few nice restaurants, a couple of great bookstores, thrift and boutique stores–and so when we have tourists and visitors in town, we encourage them to take a stroll up and down Main Street and take a look around.”

The Riverton Chamber & Visitors Center is located at 524 Main Street and N. 6th Street. You can follow them on Facebook or visit their website at wyriverton.com.