Greater Cheyenne Greenway Spring Clean-Up is Set for May

It is only fitting that yesterday happened to be Earth Day and then sure enough, this is announced. The Greater Cheyenne Greenway Spring Clean-Up has been scheduled for the middle of next month for two separate weekends.

Spring has sprung! Okay, maybe it hasn't necessarily sprung yet, but by all odds, it is likely to have done just that by the time of the Greater Cheyenne Greenway Spring Clean-Up. The spring clean-up effort is set to take place during the two weekends between May 15th and 23rd.

You can partake in the clean-up effort to help out the community as it has continued to show its significant maintenance contributions. Just remember that your clean-up efforts will also require you to wear boots or sturdy shoes, long pants, and gloves as suggested wardrobe items for the event. It is also noted that the Cheyenne Greenway staff can bring lightweight gloves and trash bags upon request.

The Cheyenne Greenway system is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021! This would be a great way to celebrate the special time and of course, a perfect reason to get outside since most likely by that time (true) Spring will have sprung! Since it is the 30th anniversary for Cheyenne Greenway, they are encouraging the public to submit Greenway pictures, videos, and stories via social media using #Greenway30. Such materials can also be sent to the link here as well.

For all other info in regards to the Greater Cheyenne Greenway Spring Clean-Up, please contact Jeanie Vetter, Greenway and Parks Planner by calling 307=638-4379 or emailing jvetter@cheyennecity.org.

CLASSIC CHEYENNE: The Cole Shopping Center

In December of 2020, Blue Federal Credit Union completed its new headquarters at the corner of Converse and Pershing in Cheyenne. Well, it’s not so much a ‘corner’ as it is the smooth edge of a roundabout, but anyway. Before Blue FCU built its new campus, the site was at one time a premier shopping destination for Cheyenne. From the 1950s through 2016 it was Cheyenne's Cole Shopping Center.

Local businessman Frank Cole bought the land that would become a Cheyenne gathering place in the 1950s when the corner of Converse and Pershing was the edge of town. Starting in 1952, three different Safeway grocery stores called the Cole home over its half-century of existence. A plethora of other stores served the neighborhood too. From the movie theater to Blockbuster; there was the Cole Department Store, the fabric store, the East Branch of the Carnegie Library, and so much more.

As Cheyenne grew and changed, the Shopping Center fell into decline. Stores closed and new ones didn't take their places. The anchor of the area, Safeway, closed for good in 2016 with much of the rest following. In 2018 the buildings were demolished and the new construction began.

The Cole was so integral to the neighborhood that when we asked on social media for folks’ memories we were flooded with hundreds of responses.

Check out many of those memories below, along with several pictures of the Cole Shopping Center, mostly from near the end in the twenty-teens.