Sheridan, WY; A city with a small town feel but all the assets of a city

Photo Courtesy of City of Sheridan’s website

Sheridan, WY is a beautiful community that sits right at the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains which offers a great view for the city.

Richard Bridger, Mayor of Sheridan, elaborates, ““It has a very small town feel. I think that helps because we have a main street that’s very viable. That’s kind of a draw for our whole community. But at the same time, we have some industry coming in and a lot of commerce within our community. So we’re kind of blessed on both ends really.”

Bridger says the economy in Sheridan is “going gangbusters right now.” This blessing to the community can be seen in several areas. For example, the YMCA got revamped a couple of years ago. Bridger tells more, “They added a whole addition to their aquatics facility, plus they’re doing a big remodel of the area where the pool used to be. So they’ve done quite a bit over there. It’s a beautiful facility and it’s well used in our community.”

The tourism industry in Sheridan is also a huge part of the community. Sheridan is an active city that attracts many events. 

Bridger says, “You know, there again, we blessed, we got a great travel and tourism that really promotes the area. They’ve just done a wonderful job. And so we have we’ve had events, after events, after events, and people just love coming to the community. And of course it brings a lot of commerce into the community where while they are here and a lot of them are repeats because they want to come back and spend some time here.”

Bridger admits that while Sheridan is prospering, the city is not problem-free.

“With every community I think within this area, we always have our housing problems and we’re trying to deal with affordable housing or workforce housing. And so we have the common problems that all the other communities seem to be having. But the future’s bright. I mean, our economy’s doing well. We have plans for the future. We have a lot of people that are coming into our community to be part of our community. And so, again, we just feel blessed.”

Bridger says that the city has seen incredible growth. From when he was a child and the population was around 10,000 to now as mayor he has seen the city double in population.

“So, it used to be a really quite small town with Main Street, was it. That was our commerce. And then everything kind of pushed out to the north and to the south and to the west. And so we’ve just seen that continual growth over the years. And and I think it just speaks to quality of life. People are looking for a nice place to live where they can either retire or they can raise a family. We have a great school system, so that brings people to the community. And if you’re here, you just love it and you want to be a part of it.”