Smart Meetings

The Cheyenne Area CVB (cheyenne.org) offers a wide range of services to planners for meetings of all kinds (as the St. Bernard lovers found out). In addition to its hotels (see sidebar), the city has several meeting spots.

For conferences on the large side, the 25-year-old Cheyenne Civic Center (cheyenneciviccenter.org), located downtown, can accommodate up to 1,500 people in theater seating; two lobby levels can handle 40 standard exhibit booths.

And as an example of the city’s value, consider the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens (botanic.org), which has a plant collection, a solar-powered conservatory and exterior gardens, as well as the oldest train engine in Wyoming. The outdoor grounds can be used for up to 250 people, for just $110 for three hours.

Numerous museums around town can be used for private events with a built-in Western flair. Frontier Days Old West Museum (oldwestmuseum.org) showcases pioneer life in the American West, with honest-to-goodness horse-drawn carriages and wagons. Located inside the old Union Pacific Railroad Depot, the art-deco designed Cheyenne Depot Museum (cheyennedepotmuseum.org) can host indoor and outdoor events.

Cheyenne Street Railway Trolley (307-778-3133) offers historic tours of the town (including seasonal tours for Halloween and Christmas), and can be chartered for private events. For some musical accompaniment, consider hiring the folks from the Bit-O-Wyo Ranch (bit-o-wyo.com), who recently have begun to perform for convention groups.

Or head out to the Terry Bison Ranch (terrybisonranch.com), which is home to about 3,000 bison, as well as an old, large, rustic steakhouse. “Where else can you go on a motorized tour where 3,000 bison gather around your car?” says Rudloff. “It feels like Wyoming and looks like Wyoming. Many groups like to use steakhouses or have outdoor cookouts there because of great ambience.”

Remember, this is Wyoming: first you admire the animals, then you eat them.

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.”