Laramie Main Street leader Trey Sherwood wins national leadership award

Downtown Laramie’s revival is showing up in hard numbers: 24 private repair and renovation projects worth $1.5 million, $6.7 million in public improvements on Third Street and at City Hall, 16 net new businesses and 40 net new jobs in 2025. That momentum helped put Trey Sherwood, the executive director of the Laramie Main Street Alliance, in line for one of the nation’s top downtown development honors.

Main Street America named Sherwood a 2026 Mary Means Leadership Award recipient on April 15, recognizing her for more than 16 years guiding community-driven revitalization in downtown Laramie. The award, presented during the closing celebration of the 2026 Main Street Now Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the organization’s top honor for leadership in preservation-based economic development and commercial district revitalization. Sherwood was nominated by colleagues and selected by a national jury.

For Albany County, the award is less a ceremonial milestone than a sign that downtown’s business district is still producing measurable returns. Laramie Main Street Alliance said 2025 marked 20 years of downtown revitalization, and it reported that every $1 spent by the organization brought another $36 in private and public funds into downtown. The group also logged 1,451 volunteer hours, valued at $50,480, and 209 business coaching and assistance sessions, work aimed at keeping storefronts active and helping local entrepreneurs stay in the district.

Laramie Main Street Alliance was formed in 2005 as a 501(c)(3) to work with local businesses, property owners, consumers, city government, district residents and the workforce. The group is part of Wyoming Main Street under the Wyoming Business Council, follows the national four-point approach of design, organization, economic restructuring and promotion, and operates from 103 Grand Avenue in downtown Laramie. Its district runs from Sheridan to Clark along 1st, 2nd and 3rd Streets and between Ivinson and Garfield to 6th Street, near the Courthouse.

The organization has also leaned on targeted storefront investment. Since 2023, a legacy gift has funded $56,325 in façade grants for downtown building preservation, which generated another $243,993 in private investment. That kind of multiplier is one reason Main Street America previously recognized Laramie with a 2022 Great American Main Street Award, describing a downtown where virtually every storefront was occupied and housing demand was strong. Sherwood’s latest honor puts that same district, and the next round of projects inside it, back in the national spotlight.