With the annual winter shopping season now in full swing, Wyoming's old town centers are seeing an uptick in visitors drawn to colorful light displays, roasted chestnut and hot chocolate carts, free horse-drawn carriage rides and one-of-a-kind gift options offered by local merchants.

Jessica Seders, executive director of Gillette Main Street, said Wyoming's historic downtowns are a great way to get even the most committed Scrooges into the holiday spirit.

"Gillette's downtown is full of historic buildings that could be found in an old western town," Seders explained. "A lot of people just come down for photo opportunities, and to spend evenings -- especially when it's all lit up -- walking and enjoying the downtown."

Downtown Gillette, which came to life with the arrival of the railroad in the early 20th century, boasts a wide variety of mom and pop shops, restaurants and holiday events. The original General Store building still sits on the town's first block, and Seders pointed to a new attraction, an original homestead wagon on display on the 3rd Street Plaza.

Chad Banks, manager of the Urban Renewal Agency and Main Street Programs for the City of Rock Springs, said visitors can check out the original City Hall, made from sandstone in 1893, which is now a historic museum, or stroll through the town's original and iconic train depot, now a coffee shop and event center full of holiday cheer.

Banks noted one common misperception is locally-owned stores are more expensive than corporate chains.

"That's not always the case, and oftentimes our retailers downtown can even beat prices online," Banks pointed out. "It's always worth giving those folks a chance to earn your business first, before you jump online, or jump to the big box stores."

Gillette is also holding a Christmas window decorating contest. Locals and visitors can scan QR codes to vote for their favorite storefront displays through Dec. 20. Seders added spending time and money in Wyoming's downtowns boosts local economies, and the businesses who sponsor Little League teams and buy ads in high school yearbooks.

"Because when you go to ask for a donation for your kid's ball team, typically it doesn't come from a big box store, it comes from the small businesses," Seders emphasized. "If we want to keep those in business, we've got to look to them not just during the holidays but year round."


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It is back-to-school season and for 11 students in Sheridan County, Wyoming, it means returning to a one-room schoolhouse.

The Slack School was built in the 1880s and is Sheridan County's last operational one-room schoolhouse. Inside, there are historical photos on one wall, a chalkboard, a piano for students to take weekly lessons and a propane furnace, a 1966 upgrade from an old coal-burning stove.

Like in any other classroom, iPads and Chromebooks modernize the space.

Ashlee Gorham, an elementary teacher at the Slack School, said the technology also helps her instruct four different grade levels in one day.

"We're on a big rotation all day long and trying to hit all those grade levels and all those different learning targets to the best of our ability," Gorham explained.

Gorham teaches kindergarten through fourth grade at the Slack School, which is part of Sheridan County School District No. 1. Students then move to the Tongue River School system in fifth grade.

Gorham pointed out a paraprofessional works with small groups too, often in the neighboring teacherage, where teachers historically lived. The kids must be able to learn independently but Gorham said the family-like setting means they help each other out, too.

"The older kids take the little ones under their wing and they all work to do their best," Gorham observed. "These kids, they come from ranch homes and they have great work ethic, they have great morals. It's just very easy to be their teacher."

The Slack School is one of 18 across the state with three rooms or fewer.


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The latest report from the EveryLibrary Institute showed the Republican Party's agenda, as outlined in the document known as Project 2025, takes aim at places where students can read, discover and explore. Conservatives call it a matter of accountability.

In Iowa, there are at least 540 public libraries, fourth-highest in the nation. More than 400 are among the scant cultural resources in towns with populations of less than 2,500.

Peter Bromberg, associate director of the institute, said Project 2025, a massive effort to reclassify civil service workers as political appointees, would take direct aim at libraries and the people who work there.

"You know, librarians and teachers are highly trusted and well-known and well-loved in their communities," Bromberg pointed out. "It's really kind of a shocking and extreme attempt to twist our democratic society and our institutions into more of a totalitarian theocracy."

Backers of Project 2025 argued librarians need to be held accountable for what is on their shelves. A bill in Alabama which would have criminalized librarians for allowing content defined as "obscene" narrowly missed becoming law this year. A similar measure has already been filed for next session.

Bromberg pointed out Project 2025 promotes book bans, restricts LGBTQ+ content and undermines the intellectual freedom and inclusivity libraries are known for. He believes it would ultimately threaten a student's educational quality and could presage the end of libraries serving as open and inclusive spaces for people who want to learn. He cited book bans as an example.

"That's the bad news," Bromberg explained. "The good news is, Americans are increasingly becoming aware of what's happening and organizing. And it doesn't often take very much in terms of organizing and pushback -- on whether it's school boards or county councils -- to get the books back on the shelves."

Project 2025, a Heritage Fund initiative, goes well beyond libraries. It would reshape the federal government and consolidate executive power under the president.

The Sage Creek Community Club is 100 years old this year and is one stop on a tour this weekend of similar buildings in the region.

The small, white clapboard structure east of Cody, Wyoming, is an unassuming building tucked in sage brush just off U.S. Highway 14, with a lot of history. In a rural area populated by farmers, the club was a vital hub for community events; often dinners in the basement and country dances upstairs, featuring a live band on the stage.

Cheryl Darling has been part of the club since she moved her family to the area in 1971.

"There's two beautiful historic drops that roll down as curtains for the stage," Darling noted. "One of them is of a landscape scene painted by one of the early, early members. And then the other one is early advertising of the whole Cody country."

The club is the first stop on a driving tour this Saturday of four Bighorn Basin community halls. Halls like these were constructed in the 1920s and '30s, sometimes via Depression-era programs like the Works Progress Administration or the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Darling pointed out the club made the Wyoming Historic Registry last year and is currently in the process of getting on the National Register of Historic Places.

"People can go and see what the history was of these different buildings and how they got started," Darling explained. "It just falls back to the preservation of our traditions and our historical values."

Official historic designations provide funding for continued upkeep so the structure can be used for more modern community events, too, like graduation parties, weddings and 4-H Club events.


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