GREEN RIVER — The Green River Chamber of Commerce released participation numbers for this year’s Annual River Festival.
The 14th Annual River Festival was held on August 14th and 15th, 2015 with the majority of the events taking place on the historical Expedition Island.
The event was held in conjunction with Art on the Green.
Overall participation exceeded 4,000 participants from all over Wyoming, 27 different States and Canada. Once again, the Chamber sold out of shrimp boil tickets, cooking over 900 pounds of shrimp.
Over 150 people competed in the Run with the Horses Marathon which is a slight increase over 2014.
According to the GR Chamber the event saw a 20 percent increase in beer sales as well. There were 15 Hand Craft Vendors, two food vendors, two shaved ice vendors, two bands, a Micro-Brew Garden, several Kids Games, Fireworks, a Duck Race, and the Run with the Horses Marathon, Green Belt Mountain Bike Poker Run, a River Walk, Dog Fetching Competitions, a Dog Show, and a Car Show.
There was plenty of entertainment for all ages! The Chamber said they would like to thank all of their volunteers and all of their sponsors for the 14th Annual River Festival; without them, this event would not have happened!
If you have driven past the Green River Visitor Center at all this summer, you are sure to have noticed the large amount of RV’s, trailers, and out of state vehicles sitting in our parking lot.
The Chamber has seen an increase in tourists through the visitor center throughout the summer months. In July alone, we saw over 4,000 people come through the Visitor Center front doors. The Chamber staff does a fantastic job helping direct visitors to area businesses and tourist attractions. Most visitors are looking for information about the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area and Yellowstone National Park.
Throughout the year, the Chamber acts as the ticket outlet for area events. They have tickets for almost all of the events taking place in Green River and Rock Springs. The GR Chamber has been especially busy with tickets sales in the summer time and so far this year they have sold over $25,000 worth of tickets.
“We want to thank all of our members, volunteers, and community partners for their continued support of the Chamber. We could not do it with out of you!”
-GR Chamber
Please see below for the full listing of River Festival event winners:
Marathon Winners: Women’s 10K: 1st place Brenda Gray of Rock Springs, WY 46:49.3; 2nd place Jessie Ray O’Neal of Rock Springs, WY 48:49.7; 3rd place Kristine Maggi of Green River, WY 51:29.2.
Men’s 10K: 1st place Lain Mitchelson of Farson, WY 44:57.3; 2nd place Reijo Koivusaari of Green River, WY 48:50.4; 3rd place Adam Harlow of Green River, WY 51:53.3.
Men’s Half Marathon: 1st place Daniel Corbin of Bozeman, MT 1:45:47.2; 2nd place Mark Wallace of Mills, WY 1:46:07.9; 3rd place Zachery Mauritz of Tatlersville, UT 2:02:38.1.
Women’s Half Marathon: 1st place Lynn Malie of Denver, CO 1:50:58.8; 2nd place Gina Harvey of Green River, WY 2:04:42.8; 3rd place Lindsey Hanks of Casper, WY 2:05:06.1.
Men’s Marathon: 1st place Christopher Gregory of Westminster, CO 3:04:51.6; 2nd place Jason Crompton of Rock Springs, WY 3:20:09.8; 3rd place John Fenton of Norwood, OH 3:43:48.7.
Women’s Marathon: 1st place Julie Seymour of Rock Springs, WY 3:54:55.7; 2nd place Bekki Manville of Colorado Springs, CO 4:17:57.1; 3rd place Julie Parker of Sammamish, WA 4:34:09.3.
Biking on the Green Poker Run had 15 participants.
The Car Show had 33 entries.
Duck Race Winners: 1st place winner was Chris Ortega, she won John Wesley Fowl River Festival Mascot and $250; 2nd place winner was Jerry Hunter who won $100; 3rd place winner was Debbie Watry who won $50; 4th place winner was Brian Taylor who won a plush duck; and 5th place winner was Ryan Smith who also won a plush duck.
The Dog Fetching contest had 9 participants for the River Fetch and 12 participants in the Land Fetch. Winners of the River Fetch were as follows: 1st place Abbie with owner Phil Pyzyna; 2nd place Hoover with owner Jim Schmidt; 3rd place Sadie with owner Justin Conder. Winners of the Land Fetch were as follows: 1st place Indie with owner John Ritter; 2nd place Chief with owner Frank Lake; 3rd place Harley with owner Jerry Georgis.
River Walk
Seedskadee Trout Unlimited had another successful year hosting our Riverwalk. We like to say we put the river back in Riverfest. There were over 60 participants who completed all the stations. It was down considerably from last year. We attribute that to that fact that we started the event earlier this year in an attempt to beat the heat. There were eight stations this year, down from eleven last year. Organizers purposely cut the distance and the amount of stations but it still took over two hours on average to complete the activity. That shows that people were very engaged in learning.
We couldn’t have done it without our dedicated partners. A huge thank you goes out to our Wyoming Game and Fish Department. They ran four of the stations: Fish Obstacle Course, Fish on the Green River, Aquatic Invasive Species, and Wildlife & Riparian Areas stations. The Green River Fire Department was out in force at the Water and River Safety Station. The Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge taught about Migrating Birds and Riparian Areas. They brought with them six volunteers from the Conservation Corp. Our Seedskadee Trout Unlimited helped people identify aquatic invertebrates. The Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resource Trust ran the invasive species Scavenger Hunt and donated two back packs that were given away as door prizes. Mike Babcock won the hat, water bottle and jacket donated by the Muley Fanatics Foundation. The River fest Committee allowed us to present the Grand Prize at our event which consisted of an all-day Whitewater float and one night stay at the Wind River Casino. Aja Witt, of Green River, won that.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s River Festival!