A look back at the 2023 Rawlins DDA/Main Street events and what to expect in 2024

“Sweet Soirée, our first event of the year, was fabulous,” Rawlins DDA/Main Street executive director Pam Thayer said. “It was the first time that we’d held this new fundraising event.”

The inaugural event, held on Feb. 11, 2023, offered local residents a chance to indulge in a night of wine and whiskey tasting, bidding on silent auction items and enjoy live music from Still House Blues.

The funds raised at the event went to the Rawlins Downtown Lighting Project. Phase one of the lighting project kicked off at the end of 2023.

Thayer went on to say that because the Sweet Soirée event takes a lot of work to put on, it will be held every other year.

“It was beyond expectations. We were really happy with it,” she said. “It was a new event; it was a fun event.”

She also said that they then experienced a budget cut.

“I would say, 85% of the year, we were down in staffing because of budget cuts,” Thayer explained. “At the beginning of March, we really had to look at all of the events and the human capital.

“We do so many of our events through volunteerism. So, we sat down with the board and really prioritized.”

When considering which events to move forward with for the year, they looked at the funding, human capital and the number of volunteers.

They ended up having to adjust the SummerFest event in July.

“We had a lot of partners come in, and it was called ‘Take Over SummerFest.’ There weren’t as many vendors, but it turned out well,” Thayer said. “We felt like it was a good event.”

One of the big parts of the event was the grand opening of the Depot Park Splash Pad, located in downtown Rawlins.

The splash pad was several years in the making, due to the need for community fundraising. The idea came about from a city council member in 2012 and was presented to Rawlins DDA/Main Street.

“That was our big attraction of the event. Some people commented that we didn’t have as many vendors, but the event still turned out fabulous.”

Thayer explained that because of the weather and other factors, most of their events are held from July through December.

The next event, held on Oct. 6-7, was ArtBeat.

The annual downtown art walk featured the work of a number of local artists. It also included interactive activities for the whole family to enjoy.

“We had a really great ArtBeat in 2023. We were up in merchants, and we had more artisans than we’d ever had,” Thayer shared. “It was a really good event.”

Later that month, Rawlins DDA/Main Street hosted Trick-or-Treat on Downtown Streets on Oct. 31.

“We had 50+ businesses. Also, we had almost 10 businesses, that were not in the downtown district, come and participate in the event,” she said. “It is always such a fun event.”

There were over 1,500 kids who took part in Trick-or-Treat on Downtown Streets.

“Then, we hopped right into the holidays,” Thayer went on to say. “We did not do our normal Winterfest. Again, with prioritizing what we do and what we can do, we really focused on the marketing the downtown.”

Instead of the typical events, Rawlins DDA/Main Street focused on supporting businesses through their marketing efforts.

The 2023 holiday season was kicked off with Blue Plaid Friday and Small Business Saturday, on Nov. 24 and 25.

The two designated days promoted the option to shop small and support local small businesses within the community. There were a number of giveaways to entice shoppers to shop small.

“In 2023, we did something new called ‘Tis the Season. On our website, we listed a lot of the events that were going on.”

Also, as part of the event, from Nov. 24 — Dec. 17, those who shopped in the downtown Rawlins businesses had a chance to win $1,200 in Main Street Money. There was also a downtown holiday guide that was featured on the organization’s website.

2024 season of events 

To kick off the 2024 season of events, residents can take part in Super Saturday on June 8. Residents can lend a hand during the downtown clean-up day.

“It’s a day where we clean up trash, put out flowers and stuff like that,” Thayer explained. “We call it Super Saturday because it’s just a super day to be in downtown Rawlins.”

On July 12-13, Rawlins DDA/Main Street will be hosting Adventure Fest.

“Last year, with our Take Over Summerfest event, we had some great wins with some new partners. So, we are actually changing the name of Summerfest to Adventure Fest,” she said.

This year’s event will have more of an outdoor theme attached to it.

“Something new that we’re going to be doing on Friday night (July 12) is a cruising night. That was something that some people did during the time of Covid,” Thayer said. “You know, we have a car show, and we were trying to think of a way we could get more heads in beds and people spending more money.”

Thayer explained that with the cars, Jeeps and bikes coming in on Saturday morning for the event’s car show, they came up with holding the cruising night on the night before. 

“If they come in on Saturday morning, that’s great and we love to have them because most likely, they’ll buy fuel and food. But if we had a cool event on Friday night, that they would want to participate in, then we get more people out from the community and we have other people coming into town to cruise Rawlins with us.”

She added, “On Saturday, we are also going to have the Continental Divide Trail Coalition here. We’re going to have a booth with backpacks that are filled up so people can feel what it’s like to carry one like those who walk the Continental Divide Trail."

The rest of the year will also be filled with local events, which include:

• ArtBeat; Oct. 4-5
• Trick-or-Treat on Downtown streets; Oct. 31
• Blue Plaid Friday and Small Business Saturday; Nov. 29-30
• ‘Tis the Season; Nov. 29 – Dec. 21