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Don't forget the Cody Rotary Halloween Party tonight! 6pm at Zapata's. There will be games and raffles...bring some cash to participate, proceeds go to the Cody Rotary Foundation.

Today Ken S. gave us an update on some marketing activities (and took a lot of pics and videos). He will be setting up a YouTube Channel soon which will link to the website and include snippets of our weekly presentations.

Vi updated the group on the Christmas Party. Finding a location for a private party has proved difficult so the Board has opted to participate in the Festival of Trees dinner and they have indicated they will be able to sit us all together. The party will be December 4th at the hospital. Tickets are $50 each and will be billed through Rotary billing. If you want to reserve a seat, reply to this message or sign up at the next luncheon.

Greg P. inducted Cameron Carlson as the newest club member. Cam was sponsored by Lisa D. Welcome Cam!!

Lisa P. gave the group a demonstration on how the Wine Raffle basket are created and got quite a bit of help from the peanut gallery. There are two prizes for the wine raffle...1st place is Santa themed and has 30 bottles of wine, 2nd place is Snowman themed and has 20 bottles of wine. Tickets are one for $5 or 5 for $20. Get tickets from Vi and start selling! Also, sign up to sell tickets at the Crisis Intervention Center Craft Fair on Nov. 22 where the raffle drawing will be conducted at 4pm.

Thanks so much to Lynda Brown for purchasing the wine, and to Lisa for purchasing the basket supplies and putting them together.

Have a great week...and Happy Halloween!

October 24, 2025 Meeting

Hello Rotarians!

We were lucky enough to have lots of exciting news, two presentations, and a great crowd today.

We started off the meeting with an announcement from Brett that the Cody Rotary Club is donating $40,000 to the City of Cody to be used for the new Trailhead Park! This will be a great opportunity to show the good service Rotary provides the community and to help us sell raffle tickets and raise money for the Rotary Show.

Heather passed out a dictionary handout schedule and announced that Black Hills Energy made a donation to cover the cost of the dictionaries, which were ordered locally from Legends Bookstore.

Wine & Whiskey Raffle tickets are in and can be collected from Vi. Kelly brought in a gorgeous Wyoming Whiskey barrel end table that will be included in the whiskey raffle. Lisa P. is taking sign ups to sell raffle tickets at the 11/22 craft show.

Mark Mathis and Lindsey Shaw joined the group to discuss the Wyoming Christmas Carol movie written by Hannah Barefoot. Hannah was raised in Cody and her father was Joe Kellerby, a fellow Rotarian. After UW, Hannah made her way to Los Angeles to begin her acting career. She has now written a movie she call a "love letter to Cody" and would like to film it in the winter in Cody but is in need of investors and donations to make this dream come true. Mark is her producer and Lindsey is her local project manager. The whole team will be hosting an information session at Age of Aquarius on Saturday 11/24 from 10-11:30am. If you're interested in donating, the Cody Community Foundation is a fiscal sponsor and donations can be made at the Chamber. They hope you can join Hannah Saturday to learn more!

Cameron Carlson, our newest Cody Rotary member, shared about his Madcap Comedy & Improv program. Cam is a teacher, actor, and director who specifically works with a "Yes, and..." philosophy for collaborations. He is passionate about helping people find was to work together in a mutually beneficial way and teaches improv with the yes, and philosophy to teach collaboration skills. He is teaching improv classes at the Colonel with the next session beginning in February. He will also be bringing the Godspell production to Cody in March and hopefully Murder Mystery Dinner Theaters in the Spring with local partners.

We will see you next Thursday 10/30 for our regular lunch AND our Halloween Party at 6pm at Zapata's...come dressed in your Halloween costume or your Rotary Show costume. Have a great week everyone!

October 16, 2025

It was a busy day at Cody Rotary yesterday! We had a good turnout of 19 people, including guests.

Kelly Jensen was inducted as our newest member. Welcome Kelly!

Jennifer Kaelberer presented on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Dance Theatre and The Cody Theatre. Jennifer shared history of the summer Wild West Spectacular shows, announced the 28th annual Nutcracker Ballet on December 13 -14, 2025 at the Wynona Thompson Auditorium, and The Wizard of Oz show scheduled for October 30-November 2, 2025 at The Cody Theatre. Jennifer discussed the high quality of productions and cast for all the shows and told us about their Access for All program which brings elementary students to programs free of charge, and the opportunity for the advanced dancers to study in New York City. As a 501c3, all of these programs are funded by sponsors and donations. You can support the theatre by advertising in show programs, making individual donations or business sponsorships, attending Swing into Spring fundraiser, or providing housing for the summer cast.

Two cast members from the Wizard of Oz, Willow (playing Dorothy) and Kathryn (playing Glinda) shared about their experience with the theatre and sand Somewhere Over the Rainbow for the group. You can buy tickets for this show at codytheater.com.

Hope to see you next week for Hannah (Kellerby) Barefoot's presentation on the Wyoming Christmas Carol movie and Cameron Carlson's presentation on MadCap Comedy & Improve.

October 9

It was a great day at Cody Rotary today!

Brett made a few announcements:

Board Meeting will be Thursday Oct 16 at 1pm, all members are welcome to attend.
Santa House received a $1500 donation from Pinnacle Bank for upgrades and a new digital printer. Also, Zach's Towing has agreed to move the house free of charge.
Rotary Show ad sales will begin soon, feel free to start discussing options with donors. The focus for this year will be to raise money for the Trailhead Park.

Ken, our treasurer, informed the group that the Board will be discussing a $4/mo increase in dues at the next Board Meeting. This is to cover increasing operational expenses since we do not use fundraising for operations. If approved this will begin November 1.

Piper Fennimore from Cowboy State Daily was our speaker today. Piper share that the mission of CSD is to be Wyoming's storyteller, telling the stories that the national media are not. She explained how their focus is on creating an identity and sharing the legacy of our communities so that Wyoming doesn't lose it's voice. Piper encouraged us to let her at the CSD team know of any stories that need to be shared.

Upcoming Dates to Remember:

10/30 - Club Halloween get together at Zapata's, more details to come.
11/22 - Wine/Whiskey basket tickets on sale at the Craft Fair. Sign up for a shift with Lisa P.
11/29 - Cody Christmas Parade, Brett will be working on a float with Santa and Santa House theme.
12/10 - 12/22 - Santa House will be open. Please prepare to help out for a couple of shifts.
2/27 - 2026 Cody Rotary Show

Hope to see you next week for a presentation from the Cody Theatre Wizard of Oz production. Have a great week!

October 2nd

It was a great day at Cody Rotary today! We had 8 members and 8 visitors.

Sandy Luthy, Megan Dunlap, and Laurie Ash from Festival of Trees were our speakers today. This program was started in 2022 and has steady grown through the years with over $24,000 donated last year.

The ladies explained how trees and wreaths for the holiday are donated by individuals, businesses, and organizations. They are put on display for events and auctioned off to raise money for multiple non-profits in the community. The primary beneficiaries this year are Bright Futures Mentoring and Bears of Honor. Individual trees donated can also have their auction proceeds applied to the non-profit of choice for the donator.

Their first event for 2025 will be a Live After 5 on October 8 at 5pm at Cody Regional Health Center where they will be raffling the Halloween tree, along with other fun activities.

Beginning November 28 they will have a full schedule of 8 days of events!! Learn more at www.festivaloftreescody.com. They would love support - decorating trees, attending events, spreading the word, donations, and bidding on trees.

We were also happy to induct Beth Blatt into membership today!! Welcome Beth.

We hope to see you next week!

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