Sleeping Giant gets $500,000 grant

CODY - The State Loan and Investment Board has approved a $500,000 grant for the Sleeping Giant ski area, located about 45 miles west of Cody in the Shoshone National Forest.

The grant was part of a $22 million package of Wyoming Business Council infrastructure and community enhancement funding for cities and towns across the state.

The money will be used to help purchase and install electrical system upgrades, snowmaking equipment and a new triple-chair lift for the west side of the ski area, said Bryant Hall, executive director for Sleeping Giant.

Kim Sears, a WBC spokeswoman, said the grant is contingent on Sleeping Giant raising by May 1 an additional $766,697 in matching funds required to finish the improvements.

Sleeping Giant must also partner with an appropriate nonprofit group if its federal tax-exempt status is not yet approved by May 1, Sears said.

Hall said the community-run nonprofit Sleeping Giant organization will be seeking donations from businesses and individuals in the weeks ahead.

All five Park County commissioners as well as outgoing Commissioner Marie Fontaine made personal donations of $100 each to Sleeping Giant earlier this week, said Hall, son of Commissioner Bucky Hall.

The ski area has been closed since spring 2004, and organizers were unable to meet fundraising goals in time to open the hill this winter, but have said they now plan to reopen by Thanksgiving.

More than $3.5 million in repairs and improvements are planned for the ski area, including new lifts, a new bridge and adding an additional 400 vertical feet of runs at the top of existing slopes.

Organizers say their goal is to create a winter sports hub that will attract residents from across the Big Horn Basin and surrounding areas.

Laramie theater faces partial demolition

LARAMIE - A demolition crew will bring down the partially collapsed roof of the Fox Theater in Laramie.

The partial demolition will be done today and Monday.

The Laramie City Council decided the roof needed to be demolished immediately because it posed a safety hazard.

The city is looking for the money to pay for the demolition of the entire building.

Magazine honors Cheyenne

CHEYENNE - True West magazine has named Cheyenne as the No. 1 Western Town for 2009.

Cheyenne beat out Deadwood, S.D.; Austin, Texas; and Silver City, N.M.

Several recent projects in Cheyenne that got the attention of True West include work to establish historic districts, a new downtown livery stable, a cell phone audio tour system and the $1.2 million skylight restoration project at the state Capitol.

Darren Rudloff of the Cheyenne Area Convention and Visitor's Bureau says the designation is an honor.

Yellowstone tops 3 million visitors in '08

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - The number of people visiting Yellowstone National Park topped the 3 million mark in 2008.

The 3,066,579 who visited the world's first national park was down 2.7 percent from the record 3,151,343 visitors in 2007. The 2008 total is the sixth highest visitation year in the park's history.

For the month of December, a total of 16,352 people visited Yellowstone, down almost 20 percent from December 2007.