Looking Back: Town boosters always shared bright ideas

MEEKER — Community members have been trying to come up with ways to increase tourism for years, as one article in the centennial edition of the Meeker Herald demonstrated. “Movement on foot to create a game park” dated March 28, 1925, tells about the efforts of local residents to show off the area wildlife in one of the two parks in the center of town that “are not being used for anything.”
Remembrances of many of the old-timers’ Independence Day celebrations include those parks and those who grew up in the area remember how all the local children spent a lot of time there. The county courthouse hadn’t been erected as yet, so residents were trying to find a way to utilize the land “for something of benefit to the people.”
The article noted that while the originator of the idea was unknown, it was a good idea to take advantage of the location as it is “such a favorable place.” Picturing the committee members and town boosters putting their heads together to come up with something that would attract visitors to the town isn’t difficult as it seems to be a time-honored tradition.  Much like today, there is always someone who is sure their bright idea will work, as they not only can spare supplies, time and energy, they have just the business plan and acumen to make it work. Some of the arguments against this idea were that it would be too expensive to construct a woven wire fence around the park to keep the deer inside, it would be difficult to procure enough deer willing to stay within the enclosure, as well as the prohibitive cost of care and feeding of the animals. The proponents of the plan mentioned the coincidence of a local businessman’s unsuccessful efforts to obtain a permit to kill his domesticated deer for meat, and the need for him to find a home for all the deer he had hand-raised for the slaughter. Apparently 12 of this “overstock” fit the need for a local “petting zoo” of sorts, and it was determined the care and feeding of six deer would not exceed $10 a month.
The assertion “It would be the most widely advertised asset we could get. Tourists who visited our town in the summer would remember and advertise that park more than any other asset we now have. For example, we are sure there are lots of people right here in Rio Blanco County and town especially, who have never seen a live deer. Some may think this is absurd, but there are a great many such people. Now among the tourist, there will be most of them who have seen deer in city parks — but to see them in a park, right here among the mountains is just like seeing them in their wild haunts and few tourists have had that pleasure.”
Was this a bright idea that was dimmed before it could illuminate the dreams of town boosters? Or was it a bad idea that threatened to burst the town booster’s bubble? Who knows, but it is interesting to picture the entire courthouse lawn as a giant “petting zoo.”