A livestream of downtown Cody could be featured on the Park County Travel Council’s YouTube page as a way to gin up more enthusiasm and followers. 

At Thursday’s board meeting, Marketing Director Katrina Southern said she’d like to start with one in downtown Cody as a trial, and if it goes well eventually extend to Powell and Meeteetse, as one way to further boost interest in the location. 

She said it’s something she knows from a bar in St. Augustine, Florida, which is well known for its livestream. 

Southern, along with administrative assistant Amanda Keyes, have been running the travel council since last summer’s departure of former executive director Ryan Hauck, but they’ll have relief soon: Newly hired executive director Michael Wambolt is set to start prior to next month’s meeting. 

“I’m so excited for Michael to come,” Southern said. “He’s awesome by the way, I think he’s going to be great for the destination.”

In the meantime Southern has been gearing up for the next tourist season — the new ad campaign is set to open in April and in addition to a vast array of new marketing, she said there will also be new swag. 

She’s also been working with marketing firm Verb on smoothing out the website, improving AI and search optimization and “making pages cleaner.”

Southern is also looking at, as other travel councils have done, having three short informational videos produced for YouTube to explain the lodging tax — not promote it — that she said would be evergreen and available when the council is near another lodging tax vote. 

Those happened every four years, with the last approved in 2024. 

Board changes

The board has a new face and an opening a veteran member is looking to fill. 

Quintin Blair’s seat on the Wyoming Office of Tourism Board ended in early March and he has since been replaced locally by Bruce Sauers, chief operations officer at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. 

However, Blair is looking to get back in a board position after longtime board member and most recently the chair, John Parsons, announced his resignation recently. 

Blair, who attended Thursday’s meeting as a member of the public, said afterward he’s submitted his application to the Park County commissioners for the open board position. Interviews for the open position have been scheduled for the April 7 commissioners’ meeting.