At first, those attending the third in a series of four Your Town workshops Thursday night appeared to be leaning toward planning some kind of fall harvest festival, perhaps a sugar beet festival or something similar.
Then reality struck.
After various ideas were exchanged and discussed about a possible new event for the community – the topic of Thursday’s meeting -- Lovell Town Councilman Brian Dickson asked the question that perhaps others had been afraid to ask: “Do we have the support right now?”
Dickson noted that only 10 citizens were in attendance at Thursday’s meeting, eight at the previous meeting, and wondered if there would be enough volunteers to stage a festival in the fall or some other time, even if the event started small.
With that in mind, the group looked to the person in the room who seemed to have a passion to run with his suggested event, Jason Zeller, who had proposed a film festival to be held at the Hyart Theatre.
Prior to that decision, facilitator Sue Taylor of Lovell Inc. had listed existing events in north Big Horn County, and then the assembled group had each suggested a new event that could be implemented within a year.
Existing events listed for the area included Mustang Days, Cowley Pioneer Day, Byron Day, the Cowley Corn Cookout, Greybull’s Days of ’49, the Big Horn County Fair, the Park County Fair, the Meet the Mustangs event, the Highland Games, the Day at the Lake, the Holiday Mingle, the North Big Horn Hospital Foundation Evening With Friends and the Chamber Banquet.

One of the main ideas for a new event, Taylor said, would be choosing one that could bring people into the community.
Starting around the room, Jim Szlemko suggested a fall sugar beet harvest festival that could include various sugar beet throwing contests. Szlemko also suggested an equestrian event, a BMX obstacle race at the rodeo grounds, a Lovell Has Talent show and various bicycle races designed to showcase Big Horn Canyon and the Big Horn Mountains.
Jyl Duffy suggested a “Back to the 50s” car show that could involve the Hyart. Committee chairman Tracy Beal also said he liked the idea of a “50s” event but added that the town should take advantage of the new large parking lot at the community center to stage a 3-on-3 basketball tournament once the parking lot is paved.
Marilyn Haskell said she would like to see some kind of folk dancing event and said it could be incorporated into a sugar beet festival.
Ben Zeller suggested promoting the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area with a triathlon, perhaps a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40K bike course and a 10K run. He said people travel all over the United States for such events. He also said it would be nice to organize a bus to travel to see plays and musical events at the Alberta Bair Theater in Billings.
Brother Jason Zeller suggested his film festival for the Hyart.
John Lafko also liked the idea of a sugar beet festival and said the Hen House store would be getting into the spirit of things by sponsoring a pumpkin festival for downtown Lovell on Oct. 29-31, complete with as many carved jack-o-lanterns as downtown businesses are willing to provide.
Brad Devereaux wrote in to suggest a food festival using the community center or the armory, a fall harvest festival or expanding the Scottish Highland Games.
Brian Dickson suggested a Dutch oven cook-off, which could be added to any event, but then he asked the question that had been bugging him: With only 10 members of the community even willing to attend a planning meeting, would there be enough support and enough interest to stage an event like a sugar beet festival, even if the event started small. He said Jason Zeller’s film festival could be done with just a few people.
Zeller, during his earlier presentation, had said that a film festival would be relatively easy to run and could be done at any time of year. He said the massive Hyart would be the perfect venue, and filmmakers would love to show their films on the huge screen. He said the event would certainly grow over time and would involve the community.
He said the only Wyoming film festival he can find information on is a festival in Saratoga in mid-August, so there would be few competitors in the region. The festival could be conducted over two days and would include generally short independent films. He said local colleges could be contacted to participate, and he said many people travel all over the country to attend such festivals.
Asked if it would be costly to provide awards to the filmmakers, he said that what most up-and-coming filmmakers are looking for is exposure for their film. He said he would screen the films to make sure they are family friendly.
Taylor said she liked the idea. It would be different, she said, and would “carve out a nice niche” for Lovell. She said a film festival would bring a new demographic to town, with young people attending the festival. The festival would “attract the creative class” to the community, she said, which would be a benefit.
With that, the assembled citizens chose to run with Zeller’s film festival idea.

The final Your Town workshop will be held tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. at the community center. The gathering will be used to refine the two ideas the group came up with at workshops two and three: better signage for the community and the film festival.
All members of the community are invited and encouraged to attend, Taylor said.