Chamber adds new Rendezvous events

by Amy Servantez

With the largest event in Sublette County taking place this weekend, the Chamber of Commerce has kept busy planning the new activities for the 2007 Green River Rendezvous. “We just started brainstorming about what exactly Rendezvous entailed last year and the year before, and it was the street fair and it was the museum events and such but the Chamber hadn’t really taken it to any other great lengths to do new events, to redo the old existing ones, revamp them. There was just a need so we got some sponsors and said we could do more,” Terrie Swift, membership and events coordinator for the Chamber of Commerce said.

One of the new events taking place this year is a children’s fishing derby held at Town Park. Kids 10 and under can try their luck from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday with prizes being awarded through donations provided by Two Rivers Emporium and Faler’s.

Besides the fishing derby, the Rendezvous Horse Shoe Tournament is making a return, as play will begin Saturday afternoon starting at 1 p.m. at American Legion Park. By adding these events, Swift believes the events will be a hit with the Pinedale residents. “This is something that I think is going to be catering to the locals more than anything. I don’t think that you are going to have a lot of tourists and out-of-towners doing that. That was a general thing that Kim (Andrews, Executive Director of Chamber of Commerce) and I had discussed in the very beginning. We wanted to be able to incorporate both tourists events and something to make the locals feel like it’s their event,” Swift said.

Live music by local favorite John Fogerty and Friends as well as Steam Powered Airplane will play Friday and Saturday afternoon in the Courthouse Commons. As the biggest addition to the weekend, Swift hopes it will become a regular event for the weekend. “The only way to really hear live music during Rendezvous is if you go to the bar. This is going to cater to parents with children who might want to go out and enjoy the music with their kids,” Swift said.

In incorporating the new activities into the busy weekend, Swift said the Chamber would continue to sponsor their traditional ones. Those events include: the annual Rendezvous Street Fair held throughout the weekend along Pine Street as well as the Saturday morning parade, the “Spirit of the Winds” Fireworks show Friday and Saturday evening and the annual Beard Shaving, a charity event co-sponsored by Cattle Kate’s.