Cody's master plan and a billboard about wolves. Two issues which seem about as far apart as they can get, but in reality are linked through a common theme: What type of western community are we and what are we going to be in the future?

As a Chamber we're caught in the middle of preserving and promoting our authentic western heritage for residents and visitors, while recognizing that with time come changes - changes to our visitor demographics; changes to the people moving to Cody. Pressure to maintain what makes us a truly unique western community, while retaining our relevancy in a rapidly changing world.

Two of our economic development partners - the Park County Travel Council (PCTC) and Forward Cody deal with this challenge as well. PCTC effectively mixes the iconic Buffalo Bill mustache and goatee in their humorous ads and imagery while they promote active "site-doing" in the Cody area, while Forward Cody balances Cody's position as an old west town with the amenities for companies that need access to broadband and lifestyle for younger people in the workforce.

Our largest attraction, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, has recognized that even venerable institutions need to change from time to time - balancing a name change while opening a new museum celebrating the life of our town's namesake.

In a communication exchange between Chamber board members this week, some comments by Forward Cody CEO, James Klessens were insightful when it comes to not making the old and new west mutually exclusive ideas:

"Our founder, Bill Cody was naturally drawn to the West's iconic symbols of the times - the outdoors, guns, horses and hunting.   His incredible ability to see and seize opportunity around those "western" themes gave us outfitting, dude ranching, rodeos and gunfights and the ability to use each of these to our advantage economically.  I'd wager he'd be strongly supporter of these activities even today.  But the Bill Cody I have come to know would also see new opportunities and the ability of new technology to increase the opportunities within Cody.

He would have been one of the first to advocate the development of bike trails, kayak parks, ice climbing or other recreational venues.  The entrepreneur that Cody was would have been compelled to devise a way to monetize them all.  Looking at history, that's what he did with hunting, merchandising, hospitality, irrigation, the newspaper and many other businesses.  He saw how each enterprise was necessary to support another and actively worked to develop and grow the community through them.  I doubt that he saw many roadblocks . . . just barriers to work around."

While the Chamber is but one player in the development of Cody's economic and philosophic future, we have the unique opportunity of being able to communicate with both hundreds of member businesses and thousands of visitors every year.

To that end we are going to ramp up our discussion of what Cody needs to be to retain the best of our community, while at the same time making sure we remain a viable place for both visitors and business. We'll start asking our visitors what attracted them to Cody beyond its proximity to Yellowstone. I want to have discussions with long-time locals and newcomers - anyone who is vested in making this a great place to live and work. We need to devote a few Cody Clubs and c2b's to this topic. And, I'd like to continue to receive feedback from you, our membership, so I have a better understanding of what you want, so as an organization, we can represent you effectively and help position us not as old or new, but true west.

Scott Balyo