As Rural Downtowns Across The U.S. Are Dying, Meeteetse Makes A Comeback

MEETEETSE — It doesn’t take long for a passerby on Wyoming Highway 120 to realize that something strange and wonderful is happening in the tiny town of Meeteetse. 

Cars are parked every which way along the highway, which doubles as a main street, and people are wearing goofy grins as they casually stroll up and down the wooden boardwalks, an ice cream cone in hand.

The ice cream is a stroke of tourism brilliance. It’s free, though donations are encouraged, from one of the newest venues along Meeteetse’s main drag (Highway 120), the Meeteetse Mercantile Artisan Co-op, which just opened in May. 

The gift shop occupies one-half of the historic building which was built in 1898. It’s run by a co-op of Meeteetse artisans, but is also part of a broader mission. 

“We needed it,” Meeteetse artist and volunteer Jessica Sheldon told Cowboy State Daily one sunny Sunday afternoon. “Because we were all at like the tail-end of what looked like death for our town.”

Cleaning out their half of the Mercantile took a small village. 

“It was mostly just cleaning and moving out stuff that we didn’t need or want to use,” she said. “We started this back in April, and we busted and humped and got it together by Memorial Day weekend.”

Each of the artisans stocking up the store agree to cover a working shift for the Mercantile. They serve up the free ice cream, help customers find things that serve their needs, and provide a friendly smile, as well as advice about things to do in Meeteetse. 

The ice cream makes a nice draw to the Mercantile, Sheldon acknowledged. 

While it is free, donations do help support the Mercantile, and most people are happy to contribute to that.

But even if someone doesn’t ultimately donate anything for the ice cream, they’re still likely to stick around, exploring everything the town has to offer, so it’s still a win. Particularly if they end up buying something from the artists in the Mercantile.

The ice cream ploy has helped create a surprising amount of foot traffic on the boardwalk and energy, as people explore places like the Meeteetse Chocolatier, Vic Payne’s art gallery, the Cowboy Bar, the Elkhorn Bar & Grill, and the newly opened Meeteetse Meat Company. 

A Slow Dance With Death

Like many small towns in America, Meeteetse has been dancing with decline, and eventual death, for decades now.  

“When I first started watching (the population) sign in the late ‘50s, it was almost 600, or I think 594 or 596,” 

Meeteetse Mayor, J.W. “Bill” Yetter told Cowboy State Daily. “And it’s just steadily gone downhill every decade since.”

Lighting a new fire in the heart of Meeteetse, getting people to fight for the survival of their town, was a big part of the reason he ran for office 11 years ago. 

“We’re in danger of losing our schools,” Yetter said. “We’re in danger of losing all the municipal services we offer. So, it’s actually crunch time.”

The first thing that had to change, Yetter said, were attitudes.

“We had to change our municipal attitude toward change,” he said. “That’s a rather lengthy undertaking when you’ve got a population that’s somewhat resistant to (change.) We had to convince people that this is not something we particularly want, but it’s something we have to do.”

The new meat market, in Yetter’s opinion, was a huge turning point for the city. 

“The owner of that property in the downtown area was resistant to doing anything with it,” Yetter said. “When they finally sold the property and the new owner had no problem changing the use of it, that was our major turning point. The resulting addition of that to the downtown skyline got a lot of local minds changed. They said, ‘Hey, we can actually change and grow without hurting ourselves.”

So, too, was the restoration of one-half of the Mercantile undertaken by nationally known artist, Vic Payne, who has been working on his side of the building for the past six years.

It’s now a fabulous art gallery and studio, with inviting leather couches to sit on, as well as displays of fine art pieces.

Strategic Doing, Not Strategic Planning

Making use of buildings on Main Street, instead of letting them rot away, has been key, Meeteetse Clerk Treasurer Angela Johnson agreed.

But it took more than just strategic planning to get things going.

“We did a master plan probably every 10 years or so,” she said. “But then it just became a document, right. You would follow some of it, but with just a limited amount of people and resources in our community, not a whole lot would change over the course of time.”

Johnson had an “a-ha” moment when she mentioned to the Wyoming Business Council that it was time for the city to do a new strategic plan.

“We talked for a bit, and they said, ‘You know, I’m not so sure that a strategic plan is something you need to do. You need to start a strategic doing.’”

The comment drove straight to the heart of a common problem with goal setting. Goals really do nothing in and of themselves. They require a set of concrete action steps to move forward, as well as people willing to take the journey to get there.

“They helped facilitate a couple of different workshops we had, which was very helpful,” Johnson said. “And after that, I mean it just took off. Our people who own the meat plant that’s currently processing now, they were part of our strategic planning.”

Small Changes, Big Differences

At first the changes were small. 

“We wrote a couple different grants to help revitalize downtown,” Johnson said. “We did the boardwalk — the pieces that needed to be fixed. We did bistro tables, flowerpots and banners, the pergola at Ferret Park and electrical outlets in case, someday, we want to do a food truck rodeo.”

The bistro tables and chairs changed the whole town’s vibe but also helped send an important, if silent, message. Meeteetse is not just open for business. Meeteetse welcomes you to stop in and sit for a spell.

High-speed broadband has recently been added to the downtown area, and youths in the community now help with a downtown cleanup day every spring, helping get everything ready for the summer tourism season. 

“We did windows, the street side, and a whole bunch of stuff,” Johnson said. “The entire school comes down and cleans along the downtown, if we need to get dirt off the boardwalk or whatever projects there are.”

Success Breeds More Success

Revitalizing the corner where the Mercantile stands has made a big difference for the downtown vibe. 

One-half of the building is the artist co-op, while the other half serves as a studio and art gallery for Payne.

“It’s so beautiful now, with all of the decor inside, and they did so much outside as well,” Johnson said. “It’s a stopping point now.”

Johnson has noticed a significant boost to foot traffic, and the Meeteetse Mercantile artists are telling her they’re pleasantly surprised by how well they’ve done so far.

But “strategic doing” is not finished yet, Johnson said. It’s only just begun. Nothing breeds success like success itself, and there are now lots of ideas percolating in residents’ minds about how they can help their town thrive without ruining the things they love about it.

“It’s been really beneficial, I think, to have a committee of diverse individuals just sparking ideas,” Johnson said.

They are the very essence of that small group of people acting out that well-known Margaret Mead quote.

“Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world,” the quote goes. “Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Next Up, Affordable Housing

Many of the items Meeteetse is focused on right now with its “strategic doing” is just building on what’s already there, by enhancing existing businesses. But some are about creating new sustainable businesses, like the Meat Market, to grow what the town can offer. 

There are also efforts looking at affordable housing options, to try and attract new residents. That could be the start of an upward climb for those population signs Yetter has been watching for decades.

“We have very limited housing,” Johnson said. “So, it’s just one step at a time, but I think, with the momentum we have so far, it might be easier to attract new businesses or expand existing ones, and then, hopefully, we can get some type of affordable housing that will be sustainable for schoolteachers and police officers.”

The state shooting complex is a development in the region that Johnson believes will further help Meeteetse as it’s striving to reverse the economic decline of their community. 

“That’s about halfway, or maybe a little bit less, between Meeteetse and Cody,” she said. “So maybe we could provide a bedroom community for some of the businesses in Cody.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.