I'm hoping everyone had a busy and successful Cody Stampede. Our visitor traffic and phone inquiries were strong.

Tomorrow morning between 7:30-8:30 a.m. is our next c2b (Cody Business Breakfast). It will be held at the 8th Street Restaurant in the new Best Western Ivy Inn & Suites. If you haven't had a chance to attend one of these networking events, please join us. There's no cost except what you order for breakfast, and we always give away $20 in Cody Bucks. You can come for as little or as long as you want. I hope to see you there!

I'm pleased to welcome the Winchester Arms Collectors Association Show being held at the Riley Arena and the New Frontier Western Auction & Trade Show at the Holiday Inn and Cody Auditorium. Thank you for choosing to hold your events in Cody!

As you have likely seen in the news the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement of the Yellowstone Draft Winter Use Plan has been released. The preferred alternative determines snowmobile/snowcoach daily use levels on "transportation events", and includes keeping the East Gate and Sylvan Pass open in the winter. All of the documents and a place to comment are available here: http://bit.ly/LRi49M.

A public meeting about the Winter Use Plan with Yellowstone personnel will be held at the Holiday Inn in Cody, June 19 from 6-8 p.m. This will be your chance to ask questions and make your comments known. Following Park Day in May, a small group of Cody representatives met with Yellowstone Superintendent Wenk to communicate our desire to keep Sylvan Pass open and have a firm opening date for the East Gate each spring. It was a good conversation, and we are pleased that Supt. Wenk's office is very supportive of keeping communication with Cody open and productive.

I wanted to let you know that long-time Chamber Visitor Center Manager, Karen Miller will be retiring on October 31 this year. We will certainly miss Karen and her 17 years of experience, knowledge and ability to provide such great customer service to our guests and members. If you have a chance to see her this summer, be sure to wish her well. We will open the position for applications sometime in August, with the hope of having someone hired in mid-October.

Finally, I wanted to share two compliments we recently received about a couple of our members. The first was from a couple from Minnesota who held a family reunion for 53 people at the Legacy Inn & Suites, owned by Brian and Kellie Edwards. They had nothing but good things to say about the hospitality at the Legacy and the great time they had in Cody shopping, rafting, horseback riding and going to the rodeo.
 

Next was a message from a gentlemen (also from Minnesota) who greatly enjoyed the Dan Miller Show, saying that Cody could not have better ambassadors and, "if we had not attended this show the thought of returning to Cody may not have been met by my wife and me with as much anticipation as it is now...(it's) a must see for all visitors to Cody."

A big thanks to ALL of our Cody Chamber members who work hard every day to ensure our guests have a great time here and that our businesses and residents have all of the products and services they need!

Have a great July!