Headshot of Cowboy State Daily editor Justin George

Justin George

Jen kocher

Jen Kocher

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Chance of rain in western and northern Wyoming on Monday, otherwise mostly sunny. Windy with gusts in some locations exceeding 50 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight. Highs from the low 50s to low 80s. Lows from the low 30s to low 50s.

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Sunny and very windy today with a high near 74 and wind gusts as high as 55 mph. Mostly clear and windy overnight with a low near 49 and wind gusts as high as 48 mph.

Mostly sunny and windy today with a high near 69 and wind gusts as high as 44 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming clear overnight with a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

 Fire weather watch from 10 a.m. today until 9 p.m. tonight. Sunny and windy today with a high near 74 and wind gusts as high as 55 mph. Mostly clear and windy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 50 mph.

 Chance of rain and snow before 9 a.m., gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 61 and wind gusts as high as 32 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 34.

  Gradually clearing and breezy today with a high near 66 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 38 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

Mostly sunny and windy today with a high near 58 and wind gusts as high as 48 mph. Mostly clear and windy overnight with a low near 38 and wind gusts as high as 41 mph.

Slight chance of rain before 1 p.m., mostly cloudy and breezy today with a high near 55 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Gradually clearing and breezy overnight with a low near 31 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

 Chance of rain, mostly cloudy and breezy today with a high near 57 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a low near 33.

  Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 60 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 32 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

 Chance of snow and rain, otherwise partly sunny and windy today with a high near 54 and wind gusts as high as 45 mph. Partly cloudy and windy overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Chance of snow and rain, mostly cloudy and breezy today with a high near 55 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a low near 34 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Snow and rain near certain, breezy today with a high near 45 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Gradually clearing late overnight with rain likely before midnight and a low near 31.

Slight chance of rain after 1 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny and windy today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 41 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 49 and wind gusts as high as 34 mph.

:  Chance of rain, increasing clouds and windy today with a high near 67 and wind gusts as high as 47 mph. Windy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 39 mph.

  Chance of rain mainly after 11 a.m., increasing clouds and breezy today with a high near 72 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a low near 49 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny and windy today with a high near 71 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph. Gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a low near 48.

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  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., increasing clouds today with a high near 72 and wind from 11-16 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 45.

:  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 68 and wind from 7-16 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 46.

Mostly sunny and windy today with a high near 75 and wind gusts as high as 41 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 47 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph.

  Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 75 and wind gusts as high as 38 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 51 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph.

:  Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 70 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 32 mph.

  Fire weather watch from 10 a.m. today until 9 p.m. tonight. Sunny and breezy today with a high near 83 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 52 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Fire weather watch from 10 a.m. today until 9 p.m. tonight. Sunny and windy today with a high near 76 and wind gusts as high as 55 mph. Mostly clear and windy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 45 mph.

  Mostly sunny and windy today with a high near 74 and wind gusts as high as 43 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 49 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Fire weather watch from 10 a.m. today until 9 p.m. tonight. Sunny and windy today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 45 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 49 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Sunny and windy today with a high near 71 and wind gusts as high as 45 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with low near 43 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Fire weather watch from 10 a.m. today until 9 p.m. tonight. Sunny and windy today with a high near 77 and wind gusts as high as 50 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 50 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Slight chance of rain before 9 a.m., gradually clearing and windy today with a high near 67 and wind gusts as high as 45 mph. Mostly clear and windy overnight with a low near 42 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

  Slight chance of rain before noon, windy, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 67 and wind gusts as high as 45 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 39 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph.

  Slight chance of rain before 8 a.m., gradually clearing and windy today with a high near 66 and wind gusts as high as 38 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph.

Sunrise small v2 6 29 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Monday, June 29, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Monday, June 29, 2026

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, June 29th.  I’m Mac Watson

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“A huge tanker plowed into what I thought was about 6 cars,” is how one witness described the scene of a devastating double-fatal crash Friday on Highway 20/26 in Natrona County. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that it was a very chaotic scene with many damaged vehicles, multiple victims, and a large bystander presence.

“The deceased haven't been identified yet, so we don't really know much about this crash, whether there's any criminal charges that could possibly come from it, or anything like that. All we know is it was a pretty bad scene. The highway was closed for a good 12 hours. It didn't open up again until after 2am on Saturday.”

Krista Nethercott, who witnessed the crash and is a funeral director, tells Cowboy State Daily, “I’m used to seeing stuff like this, but it was one of the worst accidents I’ve witnessed in person.” 

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The Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Friday released body camera video of state Rep. Bill Allemand's December DUI arrest. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Allemand grew more adversarial toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an “asshole.”

“In the video you can see Allemand speaking with the officer, and a lot of people are going to be tempted to make judgment calls based upon his speech, whether the DUI charge is justified. He does speak loudly and with a unique cadence. Normally, he sounds less articulate than usual during the video. The deputy reported that his speech was slurred, so that's going to be a major question that now the public has access to the evidence involved in answering that question.”

Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang tells Cowboy State Daily that Allemand was likely growing frustrated with the deputy because he thought he was

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When Gillette's Kimberly Fry got a phone call at 8:15 a.m. that someone had found their 14-year-old corgi in Wisconsin, she started crying. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that an hour later, her family was on the road and drove more than 1,000 miles straight to get their rescued dog.

“Apparently, a couple that was moving from Wyoming to Wisconsin found the Corgi, they said they tried to figure out who it belonged to, and then took it with them, and then once they realized that she was 14-years old and deaf and needed a special diet, they put her on Facebook, classified for free to anyone who take her, so they, the owner, told me she believes that they potentially stole her dog, and then once they realized it was more trouble than it was worth, they just tried to get rid of it any way that they could.”

Fry is still trying to figure out what happened. She believes her corgi was stolen and abandoned by the people who stole her, making their reunion a miracle.

Wyoming was once a top apple producer in the United States. Cowboy State Renee Jean reports that now those forgotten apple trees are being rediscovered by John Magney, who is mapping out all the varieties that can be grown in the Cowboy State.

“At one time Wyoming was at the top of the charts when it comes to apples. It wasn't always all about Washington, right? We once were big in apples too. We were held up as the example. ‘Look, if they can grow apples in Wyoming, you can grow apples anywhere.’ Jonathan Magney has this little project where he's going around, kind of mapping out all the different varieties of apples that grow in Wyoming, which ones grow the best. Part of his thinking there is, it could be a little industry for Wyoming, another kind of value-added agriculture industry that the state could look into, because apples grow really well here in Wyoming.”

That history is being rediscovered thanks to a project called the Wyoming Apple Project. Through it, researchers have been cataloguing a hidden network of heritage and volunteer trees that have somehow survived a century or so of drought and neglect.

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

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Authorities are working to unravel the mysterious deaths of a man and woman who were found in Laramie County earlier this year within three months of one another in unrelated incidents. However, Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that distinctive tattoos on the individuals have caught the attention of sisters who are genealogists who are working on the case.

“On the John Doe, there's a distinctive pool ball, an eight ball, and what looks to be like a bird, and also the. Letter C, but very, very distinguishable, and the Jane Doe has what appears to be a sun and moon. It looks like rain clouds. So, in any case, something that would be identifiable by those who knew those two people. The two sisters started a company called Genetics Uncovered. In fact, they have a project called Not Forgotten, which is a national project, and they're looking for people all over the country.”

The first person, a woman thought to be between 30 and 50 years old, was struck by a vehicle and killed on the side of Interstate 25 outside Cheyenne in late April, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol. The second is an unknown man found near a commercial building on South Greeley Avenue earlier this month, according to the Laramie County Sheriff's Department.

The Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming group says they will alter their billboards after the Wyoming Republican Party warned it could be a violation to use the official GOP elephant logo. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that other candidates and groups are doing the same.

“The RNC, the Republican National Committee, has been cracking down, reportedly on unauthorized use of its little elephant logo, and that has filtered down to Wyoming through the Wyoming GOP, which is contacting candidates like, hey, that elephant is too close to the. Will go. Hey, do you have a license to use that elephant? And so you see some candidates are putting stickers over their signs, some are just close enough to pass the smell test. Wyoming Republican Party Chair Brian Miller said, ‘Look, we've done crackdowns before, but yeah, the RNC is being very protective of its logo.’”

The Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming started a political action committee (PAC) in March to combat the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which is a controversial and populist-leaning group of state House Republicans.

Wyoming hunters who didn’t draw antelope tags this year aren't alone. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that hunters are blaming the winter of 2022-23.

“I talked to Larry Hicks, who's really knowledgeable about antelope, both as a hunter, and then also as he's a senator in the Wyoming legislature, and so he's dealt with a lot of wildlife policy issues. So he has a pretty good overview, and he said really, we still, we had that horrific winter, you know, 2223 where 10s of 1000s of antelope died. He said the population is still trying to recover from that, so game and fish, just out of good practice, had to cut a lot of the tags in some of these areas.”

Hicks tells Cowboy State Daily it could take up to eight years for antelope herds to recover from the devastating winterkill losses, “and we’re about three years in.” 

The Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana’s Glacier National Park, which opened for the summer Monday, is considered by many to be the most beautiful road in America. Cowboy State Daily’s Anna-Louise Jackson reports that visitors should prepare to have plenty of company, human and otherwise, on the way to Logan Pass.

“It takes you above onto the Continental Divide, over a pass, you can see the glaciers, you can see waterfalls, you can see wildlife. It's considered this engineering marvel because it is cut right into the side of the mountain. This road has just one major switchback, and you are hugging the side of the cliff and just getting this perspective of this park that you wouldn't have any other way, so it's really popular. If you go to Glacier Park, it's kind of like if you don't go on this road, you may not have fully seen the park.”

Ranked the third most-scenic drive in the U.S. by Tripadvisor reviewers, people tend to throw around superlatives like “stunning,” “spectacular,” or “unforgettable” to describe it.

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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 6 29 26 v2

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, June 29, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Monday's headlines include:
* 12-Hour Highway Closure After Fatal Crash
* Sheriff Releases Bodycam Of Legislator DUI Stop
* Happy Ending To Missing Dog From 1,000 Miles Away

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, June 29, 2026

Around Wyoming

[{"type":"text","text":"After 152 million years, Big Al is back."}]

The Wild West Dino Den will officially open in the Historic Red Shell Schoolhouse in Shell on July 27. The centerpiece exhibit is an exact skeletal replica of “Big Al,” a local icon and one of the most famous dinosaurs ever found.

 found near Shell in 1991. Now, 35 years after its discovery, 

 has brought the famous dinosaur back to its old stomping grounds.

“Big Al’s a big deal for us,” said Erik Kvale, president of the Wild West Dino Den. “Bringing this particular dinosaur back is going to put us on a lot of people’s radars before too long.”

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While countless children and dinosaur enthusiasts know dinosaurs by their scientific names, many people know Big Al on a first-name basis. That’s because this dinosaur’s story is one of the most famous in paleontological history.

The fossilized skeleton of Big Al was found by Swiss paleontologist Kirby Siber in 1991. Because it was on federal land, the specimen was excavated by paleontologists from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, the University of Wyoming Geological Museum, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, Canada.

Big Al’s skeleton was 95% complete, making it one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found.

The specimen became even more notable when a 2002 paper revealed 19 distinct skeletal injuries and diseases preserved in Big Al’s fossils.  Those afflictions include several fractured ribs, a torn-up hand, and a massive bone infection on the right middle toe.

Big Al was 17 years old when he died and still wasn’t a fully-grown adult. The still-unprecedented number of injuries revealed that this dinosaur was a survivor, despite the pain and debilitating life it would inevitably have endured before its demise.

“Big Al (is famous) because of the record of its life and times in its bones,” John Scannella, the John R. Horner curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, 

. “The more studies we can apply to this particular dinosaur, applying different techniques and analyses, the more we can learn about that animal’s life and the world around it.”

Big Al’s story was so compelling that it was featured in the 2000 BBC documentary, “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Ballad of Big Al.” The half-hour special, narrated by legendary Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh, won two Emmy Awards and made Big Al an international celebrity.

“It is the most famous dinosaur from our area,” Kvale said. “Now, he’s back on his home turf for the first time in 150 million years.”

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The actual fossils of Big Al are in the permanent collections at the Museum of the Rockies, which is a repository for fossils from federal lands. A replica of the finished specimen still stands at the UW Geological Museum.

Big Al returned to Shell in a massive shipping crate last week. It will be officially unveiled to the public when the Wild West Dino Den officially opens Saturday.

“Our non-profit is registered as the Big Horn Basin Dinosaur and Geoscience Center, but we found that name was way too cumbersome,” Kvale said. “The world will know us as The Wild West Dino Den.”

Big Al will hang out in the Shell Schoolhouse for the discernible future, but not forever. Kvale’s goal is to open a permanent 4,000-square-foot museum in Greybull, where Big Al will be joined by replicas of other famous dinosaur specimens from the area.

“This is a big deal for us, but what people will see in Shell is a postage-stamp view of what we hope our larger museum will be like,” he said.

When the Wild West Dino Den opens June 27, people will get to see replicas of two other significant fossil finds from the area.

“Baby Toni” was acquired with a grant from the Big Horn Rural Electric Company. The 5-foot-long baby sauropod was found in the famous Howe-Stephens Quarry, a stone’s throw away from Big Al’s final resting place.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s the world's most complete baby sauropod,” Kvale said."}]

The other display is a nest of Allosaurus eggs. The only Allosaurus nest ever found was excavated by the Smithsonian Institution between Greybull and Shell.

“We have casts of 24 reconstructed Allosaurus eggs,” Kvale said. “The other 24 are on display in the Smithsonian’s dinosaur hall.”

Kvale said the museum already has the funds to acquire a replica of another exceptional dinosaur found near Shell. “Sophie,” the world’s most complete Stegosaurus, is on display in the Natural History Museum of London.

“We don’t have room to fit another dinosaur in the Shell Schoolhouse,” Kvale said. “Once we get a bigger museum, Sophie will be right down the pike.”

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On Friday, Kvale and several Wild West Dino Den board members gathered in Shell to assemble Big Al’s skeleton.

The 1:1 replica was purchased from Research Casting International in Ontario, Canada. It’s one of the most renowned companies in the world for skeletal replicas of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

“They were very excited about Big Al coming home,” Kvale said. “They said they’d share the link to our museum on their website, so they’ll be giving us international attention.”

Everyone who helped assemble Big Al felt that they were participating in a historic moment.

“It felt like an honor,” said paleontologist Jessica Lippincott, author of “Wyoming’s Dinosaur Discoveries. “It felt historic. We were able to bring Big Al back to the place where he lived, died, and was discovered. It was awesome.”

Meanwhile, news of Big Al’s return has already gotten locals excited. Many remember the international media frenzy that descended on Shell surrounding the dinosaur's excavation.

“I spoke to someone who remembered going out to see Big Al being excavated when he was a kid,” Kvale said. “He’s in his 40s now, and he’s thrilled that Big Al is back.”

Kirby Siber, the man who discovered Big Al, went on to build 

. One of Europe's largest dinosaur museum, Sieber filled it with dozens of spectacularly well-preserved dinosaurs from Shell, including Baby Toni and “Big Al 2,” a similarly injured Allosaurus.

Kvale got an email from Siber, who said he was proud to call the Wild West Dino Den “our sister museum.”

The Wild West Dino Den will officially open to the public between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.  June 27. From there, Kvale hopes they’ll have the schoolhouse open to the public “most days of the week” this summer.

Meanwhile, the museum’s board is working with the town of Greybull to pursue funding for Big Al’s permanent home.

“At the rate we’re progressing, that’ll be three to four years down the road,” he said. “The agreement we have is that the town of Greybull will pursue the funding for the building, and we’ll acquire the dinosaurs to put inside.”

Big Al isn’t the largest dinosaur intended for the museum, but it carries the most significance for Kvale and his board. It’s like an international celebrity making a triumphant homecoming after 152 million years.

“I feel like we’re getting the ball rolling,” Kvale said. “The world knows Big Al, and locals know Big Al. It’s a famous fossil and a very big deal for us.”

Contact Andrew Rossi at andrew@cowboystatedaily.com

Big Al IMG 0472 6 28 26

<title>After 35 Years, 152-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur 'Big Al' Returns Home To Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

“Big Al,” a world-famous 152-million-year-old dinosaur found near Shell in 1991, is back home in Shell, Wyoming. Big Al’s skeleton is 95% complete, making it one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found.

After 35 Years, 152-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur 'Big Al' Returns Home To Wyoming

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Business

Chugwater is not the place where most people would expect to find high fashion.

But that is exactly what they’ll find along the tiny town’s main drag — a new vintage Western clothing shop, run by a woman with roots in the high-powered fashion worlds of Italy and New York. 

In a town better known for its annual chili cook-off than haute couture, the BB West Vintage boutique joins a growing number of historic buildings turned destination businesses pulling tourists off Interstate 25 and keeping a rural main street alive.

Claudia Borchardt is her name, and she’s married to a Wyoming rancher just outside of Chugwater. But her fashion story starts a world away.

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At first, Claudia didn’t dare dream of starting a clothing store about as far off the beaten path as a person can get — in a town of less than 200 people in the least-populated state in the U.S. 

She’d owned a boutique in Brooklyn, New York, and knew just how difficult retail could be, even in a more populous community. 

“When I moved here, my career obviously didn’t exist,” she said. 

That had her asking herself what kind of work she could do from home to keep the creative muscles working and feel more a part of the community. 

She tried a few things. First, she leaned into her marketing experience, working with The Historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne to sell tourist packages and such. 

But there’s just something about the fashion industry that refuses to be quiet in her head.

“So, about eight years ago I started an Etsy business,” she said. “And I was selling vintage Western wear — kids and adults — and it really took off. I found that there’s a market for what we take for granted, for what everyone probably already has in their closet from grandma.”

Turns out, people in big cities and even other countries just love Western fashion, especially now with popular television shows like Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone”. 

“So I started online and I’ve been working out of my house for eight years, growing and growing,” she said.

Before long, dozens of orders were shipping to customers across the country and even overseas, all from a basement in rural Platte County. 

One day the growing towers of totes in the basement could no longer escape the notice of her husband. 

“Whoa,” he said. “You have so much stuff, you could open a store.”

And so, that’s just what she decided to do, right there in tiny Chugwater, population 175.

“I was just getting tired of having to go to the basement every time I had a sale,” Borchardt admitted. “And I was wishing I could just hang it all up and work with it a little more.”

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For Chugwater, BB West means one more cute shop on a slowly but surely growing main drag. It’s something else to help draw tourists off Interstate 25, too, bringing new dollars into a town that would otherwise go the way of so many other small communities.

Borchardt found good role models in Chugwater’s 

 owner Josh Hopkins, Soda Fountain owner Jill Winger, and Stampede owners Lily and Lance Nilson.

All have bought distressed properties and/or businesses to revive them and found ways to succeed in spite of the lack of population. Their efforts have injected new vitality into the community, to keep the town from dying out altogether, while also helping preserve pieces of Wyoming history. 

The Soda Fountain, for example, is the state’s oldest operating soda fountain. It opened in 1914, and still serves old-fashioned malts.

Winger initially thought her path to viability was to keep things simple, so she leaned into a burger and malt concept. That was popular, and drew people from all over the state for ranch-raised burgers and a huge selection of flavored malts.

But real success didn’t come until she leaned further into her true vision for the place — fancy dinners.

Now she has a supper club experience every month or so she calls 

, which has been selling out regularly and drawing people from Cheyenne and beyond.

“We all just want the town to have more,” Borchardt said. “We want to kind of collaborate together and make it so when you come to town, there’s more things to do than just grab a milkshake.” 

So Borchardt will be working in tandem with Winger for the next Supper at the Fountain, set for July 17 and 18. 

“She has two seatings, and sometimes people are trickling out the door or waiting on the sidewalk, because that’s a small space,” Borchardt said. “So I said, ‘What if I open and we collaborate and you send people over as they’re waiting for their table?’”

It was the perfect solution to support both businesses in creating an experience that can draw people into Chugwater not just once, but over and over.

“There’s also a rodeo on Saturday,” Borchardt added. “So obviously, I’m going to be open then, too, because there are going to be people, and I just don’t like driving through a town and seeing everything closed or run down.”

Borchardt, in talking with Hopkins about the Tri-County Mercantile and how he’s made that work, learned that he and his partners, Jesse and Arden Miller, had long wanted to do something productive with the Standard Station.

“It’s very expensive to make it a gas station,” Borchardt said. “To really make that a gas station the right way would probably be, I mean, a million dollars.”

The Standard Station has served as event headquarters for the car show held in conjunction with the Chugwater Chili Cook-off each year, playing off its vintage Standard Station vibe.

It’s a tiny space, Borchardt said, but the more she thought about it the more she realized it was perfect.

“I just needed more of an office/showroom space to work out of,” she said. “And, as my daughter is getting older, I’m also the high school volleyball coach, so I’m constantly going into town.”

Moving her towering totes into town made a lot of sense, she decided. It would let her display her items better for photography, as well as create a storefront for the “high season” — her way of describing summer, when tourism foot traffic starts pattering through Wyoming.

Hopkins and his partners agreed that if Borchardt and her husband would fix up the Standard Station, they would pro-rate the rent. Borchardt had to keep the station historic, which was fine for her, considering her business is a vintage Western clothing boutique.

“I made the gas pumps into a garden and kept the aesthetic, the color scheme,” she said. “I had to match the perfect Standard Station red, and things like that.”

She also hand-made her signs, fitting them into an aesthetic she’s seen at other businesses in town, which also have hand-painted signs.

Her opening day was Chugwater Chili Cook-off day — just barely. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Vintage Value"}]

 now. The reason, Borchardt believes, is due to something her father always talked about when she was growing up in a fashion-forward family.

“My dad always taught me quality over quantity,” she said. “You can have a suit hand-stitched in Italy that your grandpa can pass down, even after it’s been dry-cleaned 300 times.”

That’s ultimately a better value than buying a suit needing replacement within a year or two. While the better-made, classic suit will cost more, the cost per wearing is much less than for a cheaply made garment that won’t survive many washings.

“I got made fun of as a kid, because people would joke, ‘Oh, your dad sells silk socks for $100',” Borchardt recalled. “But there’s always someone who will pay for quality, if they understand its value.”

That makes the hand-me-down side of her vintage clothing business particularly special. 

“As a kid, I wanted to just look like everybody else,” she said. “But now I appreciate what he was trying to teach me. You don’t have to buy a lot, but you buy classic staples. You can have a leather jacket for your whole life if you buy the right one.”

Inside her Standard Station store, the classics range from worn-in, pearl-snap shirts and tooled leather belts to fringed jackets and well-made wool suits. All are one-of-a-kind pieces sourced from ranch closets, estate sales, and small-town thrift shops across the region.

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Borchardt’s first day, with the Chugwater Chili Cook-off in town, went well.

People from Wheatland, Cheyenne, Denver, Texas, and other places who had come for the cook-off were finding items they just could not live without. 

The real test, she realized, is now that the cook-off has left town and all the 

“I didn’t open Sunday because it was Father’s Day,” she said. “But Monday morning I said, ‘You know what, I’ve put my hours up and I’ve got to stick to it. So I went in at 11, because right now my hours are saying 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.”

And something pretty cool happened that has her confident this idea is actually going to work.

A woman who grew up in the high-powered fashion industry in Italy and New York has decided to open a vintage Western boutique out of a former Standard gas station in Chugwater. She’d owned a boutique in Brooklyn so she knows how difficult retail can be.

CSD Staff

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