Smart Meetings

Casper today is a fully modern city—the second largest in Wyoming, in fact—with more than 100,000 sq. ft. of convention and meeting space, as well as 1,700 rooms in three major hotels. The city also has its own organization, the Casper Convention & Visitors Bureau (casperwyoming.info), which provides a bevy of services for group organizers.

The largest group facility in town is the Casper Events Center (caspereventscenter.com), which can seat more than 9,700 people, although it can be also used for smaller banquets or other events. The Central Wyoming Fairgrounds (centralwyomingfair.com) also has facilities for big groups; the Grandstand and Arena can seat up to 5,200 people, while a dining hall seats 1,250.

For a fun activity in the pioneer spirit, consider a covered wagon tour on Spiritrider Wagon Train (spiritrider-wagontrain.com) to such local attractions as the Hole-in-the-Wall area and the Bighorn Mountains. The company also offers team building on 57,000-acre Willow Creek Ranch near Casper, along with chuck-wagon fun. Guests are asked to come dressed in authentic western clothing.

Another site for a pioneer-themed event is the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center (www.wy.blm.gov/nhtic), which serves up the story of life as it was for those on the Oregon Trail and other pioneer groups.

As a spouse activity, Painted Past Enterprise (paintedpast.org) offers living history tours, with costume-clad actors showcasing what Casper was like in bygone eras. Also worth a visit is Fort Caspar (fortcasparwyoming.com), which includes a reconstructed 1865 frontier army fort, 1859 Guinard bridge and 1847 Mormon ferry. The museum offers exhibits featuring the history of central Wyoming. (The city was originally named for Caspar Collins, but the spelling changed along the way.) Centennial Park and other areas of the site are available for rental for events.

A more 21st-century facility to visit or rent is the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center (thenic.org), in downtown Casper, which has more than 25,000 sq. ft. of galleries, classrooms and a hands-on art studio.

Casper is also within easy distance of fly-fishing, rafting, birding and tons of wide-open golf. It is also home to the College National Finals Rodeo and the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo, in case you’re hankering for some bull riding, bareback, barrel racing and roping events.

Getting There

Getting to Cheyenne is relatively simple: Cheyenne Regional Airport (cheyenneairport.com) is the stopping point for 35-minute flights to and from Denver on Great Lakes Airlines, which partners with United and Frontier. If driving, Cheyenne is just a couple hours (about 100 miles) from Denver by car.

Several major airlines fly to the Jackson area daily, mostly via Salt Lake City and Denver. Downtown is nine miles from Jackson Hole Airport (jacksonholeairport.com), 12 miles from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

Laramie is also served by Great Lakes (Laramie Regional Airport; laramieairport.com). To get to Casper, fly into the Natrona County International Airport (iflycasper.com/), which has service to/from Denver, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis, operated by Sky West Airlines.

Not To Be Missed

EAL: As a novel way to promote teamwork, try “EAL” (Equine Assisted Learning), a psychotherapist-led program in which people learn useful team skills (e.g., nonverbal communication, assertiveness, creative thinking, etc.) by working with horses. Leader Mikel Carmon has been described as a “female Will Rogers”; topics covered include Leadership vs. Management, The Power of Intentionality, and Medicine Wheel Knowledge and Energy (spiritrider-wagontrain.com/).

Dude Ranch: Originally a trapper’s trading post, Jackson Hole saw the rise of ranches during the early 20th century. Many of these turned into guest houses, and a few are still operational, including the Triangle X Ranch (trianglex.com) and the Triangle C (trianglec.com), both of which offer their own rafting, horseback riding and other adventures. For general info, contact Wyoming’s Dude Ranch Association (wyomingdra.com)

Snowmobiling: Snowmobiling provides a fun way to cover a lot of territory “off the beaten path” in the national parks. You may encounter moose, bison, elk, deer, coyote, wolves or geo-thermal features. While tours in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area (such as to Old Faithful geyser) are popular, these tours have been controversial in recent years, but other options abound, such as Togwotee Pass, Greys River, Granite Hot Springs and the Gros Ventre Mountains. For those that don’t want to actually drive the thing, consider a snow coach, basically a powered sled. Overnight snow tours are also available. See yellowstoneparknet.com for more info.

Frontier Days: Every year, Cheyenne goes hog-wild (and cow-wild, horse-wild, bull-wild, etc.) for ten days at the Cheyenne Frontier Days, the world's largest outdoor rodeo and Western Celebration. Referred to as the “daddy of ‘em all,” the event is an exciting, if sometimes stinky gathering of cowboys from across the west – and while it sounds intimidating, some groups choose to piggyback their meetings with this event. This July marks the 112th year anniversary. “The rodeo has a lot of history. It’s big, brash, loud, amazing. It’s a not-to-be-missed event,” says Rudloff. “We’ve had groups meet either a week before or a week after Frontier Days, allowing their attendees to come early or stay late. That is an option that you can do in too many places.”

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