KEMMERER — The start of a joint effort to clean up Triangle Park and the cabin there took place on Wednesday, June 19. The Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce had a cleanup project with its membership and the City of Kemmerer.

They started preparing the cabin for new paint and cleaned up the surrounding grounds.  The cabin will be repaired, repainted and new lighting installed in the next few weeks. These repairs are being made possible through the Wyoming Community Development Foundation, City of Kemmerer, Dream Custom Interiors and Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce. Williams and Ace Hardware also painted the antique light poles and flag poles downtown as a service project.

“Cleaning up our historic Triangle Park shows just how much we care about preserving Kemmerer’s heritage and keeping our community beautiful. When we all pitch in together, we can make big changes and create a sense of pride and unity that benefits everyone,” said Catherine Grandy, chamber board member over Main Street.

This effort to clean up downtown has been a combined effort of local companies, non-profit groups and the city. The chamber is still looking for grants and individual donations of time and money for this project. They currently have park benches for sale — these benches will have donor names on them and replace the current broken benches in the park.

Chamber President Jesica Lozier said, “This is just the beginning of the projects that the Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce has planned for downtown. We have a big plan for the downtown area that includes new picnic areas around the cabin, firepit seating in the park, a new stage for the park, new park benches, and addressing vacancy and storage in buildings downtown.”

“The chamber will continue to make downtown Kemmerer a priority over the next few years,” Lozier said. In this period of growth in Kemmerer, it is a goal of the chamber to create a positive small business atmosphere within the community.

The chamber will continue Shop Local programs throughout the next year to try to encourage small business growth and development.

With the beautification of downtown and programs like Shop Local, the chamber hopes to increase small business in both Diamondville and Kemmerer.