(PHOTOS) Oil City News 2024 Year in Photos

Credit: Oil City Staff /

CASPER, Wyo. – In a world of constant connection and video, the traditional photograph can still be something special.

The still picture captures and freezes a moment, which can have more impact than simply watching video fly by. The moments allows for thought and reflection, particularly as that moment in time starts to fade from memory.

The year 2024 in Casper was like many of the past, with its people carrying on long-held traditions with community and family. There was incredible natural beauty on a daily basis, perhaps something those of us in central Wyoming may take for granted now and then. The year also brought its own moments of tragedy and heartache. However, even in those saddest moments, Casper still rallied together to care for its own.

Here are some of the moments captured by Oil City News journalists in 2024. Oil City News wishes all of its readers a safe and happy New Year.

A pair of Natrona County High School Cheerleaders react after one of their performances at Jan. 26’s state competition. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)

Sen. John Barrasso is hugged by Trudi Holthouse after the memorial service for Barrasso’s wife, Bobbi Barrasso, at Highland Park Community Church on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Marius Castiano hugs an alpaca during the annual Ag Expo on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at the Industrial Building on the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Family members react while watching a match during the first rounds of the 2024 Wyoming State High School Wrestling Championships on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, at the Ford Wyoming Center. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Kelly Walsh High School theatre students perform their production of the classic play ÒPippinÓ on Feb. 23. 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Sam Schmidt looks for materials while creating a new custom-made boot at SchmidtÕs Bootmaker & Repair in the Sunrise Shopping Center in Casper. Sam; his wife, Ashlee; and their toddler daughter, Lucy, moved to Casper late last year to run their business full time. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Gov. Mark Gordon examines an exploration pit with landowners in the Squaw Creek area on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Area landowners gathered together in a grassroots effort to block a proposed gravel pit in the area. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A motocross rider competes at the Toughest Monster Trucks Tour rally, hosted at Ford Wyoming Center on April 6. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)

People gather at the Science Zone to see part of the Great North American Eclipse in central Casper on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Family members gather with hundreds of community members at David Street Station for a vigil honoring Bobby Maher on Thursday, April 11. Bobby, age 14, died after being stabbed during an altercation at the Eastridge Mall earlier in the week. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Barbara Hooper reacts after being eliminated from the spelling bee during an online competition with other retirement centers at Primrose Assisted Living on May 8, 2024. Her word was misheard due to the lo-fi sound of the remote broadcast. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

The Kelly Walsh High School soccer team takes selfies during a school-wide celebration on Monday, May, 20, of their second consecutive Wyoming State Class 4A Championship win. KWHS won in overtime against Jackson during the championship rounds on Saturday in Rock Springs. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Lene’a Brown’s father, David Henrikson, is hugged by family during a celebration of life for Lene’a on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. LeneÕa, age 17, was shot and killed by an ex-boyfriend in the early hours of May 14. The accused killer, also a teenager, is being charged as an adult.(Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Sagewood Elementary School first-graders show off their new books during the 2024 Wyoming Reads event at the Natrona County Public Library on Tuesday, May 21, in Casper. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Fans stand for the National Anthem during the season opener for the Casper Spuds at Mike Lansing Field on May 23, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Students gather in a classroom to prepare for their graduation ceremonies at Midwest High School on May 30, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Graduates take selfies together in the halls at the Ford Wyoming Center during graduation ceremonies for KWHS on May 30, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Members of the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps practice at Kelly Walsh High School on June 12, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

CNFR competitor Bryce Eck, of Fort Scott Community College, competes in the bareback riding finals on June 15. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)

A warehouse originally built by Natrona Transfer and Storage more than a century ago is demolished on June 16, 2024. The building more recently served as an office, but had been vacant for years before being cleared. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Kids in the Humane Heroes summer program spend time with cats at the Casper Humane Society on June 25, 2024. The volunteer program allows children to care and socialize with the animals at the no-kill shelter. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A volunteer is seen through a destroyed office door during a community cleanup at the former Willard Elementary School on Thursday, June 27. The building, now owned by the Casper Housing Authority, suffered serious damage by vandals earlier this month. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A brilliant rainbow is seen from a central Casper neighborhood on June 30, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Casper residents rush to stomp out a grass fire July 4, 2024. (Garrett Grochowski)

Children are splashed with water from a passing vehicle during the annual Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo Parade in downtown Casper on July 9, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A baby alpaca rests after after its mother gave birth in a pen during the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo on July 11, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A contestant hangs on tight during the annual mutton bustinÕ event at the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo on July 11, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A lone tree grows next to a weathered building in the Kirwin mining ghost town on July 13, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

NCHS footballers carry a metal beam along the Braille Trail on July 15, 2024. (Garrett Grochowski, Oil City News)

Laramie-based muralist Dan Toro works a Casper Mural Project mural on the side of the 42 Degrees North building in downtown Casper on July 23, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

People dance during a Josh Gracin concert at David Street Station on July 25, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Casper Spuds players celebrate after winning the 2024 Independence League championship on Aug. 4. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)

A passenger jet passes in front of the moon as seen from Muddy Mountain on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A hummingbird takes flight early Monday, Aug. 12, on Muddy Mountain. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Returning students and staff reunite on the first day of the new school year at Crest Hill Elementary on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Casper. Schools around Natrona County kicked off the 2024-2025 school year on Monday morning just one week before the Labor Day weekend. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Longtime customer Al Johnson, center, talks with new owner Klaus Conrad Jr. at the Oregon Trail Bar in Mills. Johnson first walked into the bar in 1977, and was a regular before the bar closed last year. It is now reopening under new owners. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

KWHS players take the field during their first home game of the 2024 season on Sept. 6. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Chloe Thorson is hugged by friends and colleagues during a vigil for World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, at Conwell Park in Casper. Thorson, who is a nurse at Banner Health Wyoming Medical Center, lost her oldest daughter Ava, age 13, to suicide last year. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

People watch from the edge of Bar Nunn as a wildfire glows towards the Casper/Natrona County International Airport on Wednesday Sept. 11, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church is filled beyond capacity with mourners during the funeral mass for Dr. Sam Vigneri on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Casper. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A combination harvest moon, supermoon, and partial lunar eclipse is seen from central Casper on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A mule deer looks around while grazing at Beartrap Meadow as fall foliage lines the trees early Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, on Casper Mountain. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

NCHS students cheer during the Oil Bowl on Oct. 11, 2024, at Harry Geldien Stadium. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A couple watches the Wyoming Cowboys take on San Diego State on Oct. 12, 2024. (Garrett Grochowski, Oil City News)

A pedestrian and her dog run across Jefferson Street as an autumn snow storm moves into the Casper area on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions Executive Director Kilty Brown, center, takes a few swings at a doomed wall during a “Demo Party” for the hospice’s new grief care center on Thursday in Casper. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

A voter asked to have an “I Voted” sticker placed on the brim of his Trump cap during the 2024 general election at the Natrona County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Casper. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Newly-elected Rep. Julie Jarvis mingles at an election party by Americans for Prosperity at the Rib & Chop Restaurant in downtown Casper on Tuesday, Nov. 5. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

(Garrett Grochowski, Oil City News)

NCHS drama students perform the play ÒThe OutsidersÓ during dress rehearsal on Sept. 11, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Sam Scott breaks free for a touchdown while a person in a Josh Allen jersey cheers on Oct. 12, 2024. (Garrett Grochowski, Oil City News)

Fans celebrate during the University of Wyoming Homecoming Parade on Sept. 28, 2024. (Garrett Grochowski, Oil City News)

Crews attach the base to the annual Community Christmas Tree before installing it at David Street Station on Nov. 21, 2024. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

CSU’s Avery Morrow gets the first touchdown of the game against the Wyoming Cowboys Nov. 15, 2024 (Garrett Grochowski, Oil City News)

A possibly injured A great horned owl rests in a pile of leaves in front of a central Casper house on Dec. 12, 2024. Metro was called to investigate but was unable to make contact with the animal. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City News)

Oil City News LLC is a nonpartisan media organization and Central Wyoming’s largest locally owned, independent news platform. The mission of Oil City’s award-winning team of Casper-based journalists is to build a more informed and connected community by producing local stories first, fast and forever free. If you would like to read the original article, click here.

Categories: Casper News