TUESDAY, October 27, 2026|
Photo – DDA logo – Courtesy DDA
The Rawlins Downtown Development Authority celebrated its 35th anniversary last week.
During the October 20th Rawlins City Council meeting, Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Pam Thayer announced that the previous day marked 35 years since the organization’s founding.
Since that time, Thayer said the DDA has sponsored a variety of events and activities for the city’s youth.
Thayer said the DDA also offered programs for adults, including dining, shopping, educational classes, and Money Mania, a promotion in which a sponsor contributed $10,000 to encourage shoppers to return to Rawlins during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the organization’s efforts reflect its commitment to supporting the community.
Thayer said the Rawlins Downtown Development Authority could not have accomplished its goals without the backing of the community and the City Council. While reviewing 35 years of records, Thayer said she came across several DDA events held in partnership with the City, all of which successfully attracted people to Rawlins.
Thayer said she is displaying artifacts and information from the DDA’s 35-year history at the Innovation Center of Rawlins, formerly the Rainbow Te-ton Entrepreneur Center, located at 116 4th Street.
Since 1991, Executive Director Pam Thayer said the Rawlins Downtown Development Authority has received millions of dollars in grants, sponsorships, and donated labor.
Through support from the governing body, Board of Carbon County Commissioners, Rawlins residents, and federal lawmakers, Thayer said the Downtown Development Authority has helped revitalize downtown Rawlins and contributed to the entire city. She said the community should take pride in its downtown shopping district.
Since its founding in 1991, the Rawlins Downtown Development Authority has worked to combat the economic stagnation affecting the city center after decades of growth and decline tied to the energy industry. As businesses moved closer to the Interstate 80 corridor, downtown Rawlins was left with deteriorating historic storefronts, rising vacancies, and what officials described as “slum and blight.”
Between 2005 and 2007, the DDA commissioned local artists to create 12 murals in the downtown shopping district, showcasing a variety of local history, culture, and wildlife, including Thomas Edison, who visited Rawlins in the summer of 1878 to view a total solar eclipse.
In 2015, the Rawlins DDA earned the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Great American Main Street Award for its success in revitalizing the city’s downtown.
Currently, the DDA organizes the annual Art Beat festival and July’s Half-Way Days celebration, which recognizes the city’s place at the midpoint of the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail. The organization is also planning a downtown destination aimed at encouraging CDT hikers and cyclists to spend more time, and money, in Rawlins.
