News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Sisters Folk Festival is raffling off a custom guitar as part of the annual JAM (Journey/Adventure/Music) fundraiser supporting SFF's cultural education outreach and programming in Central Oregon. Longtime sponsor and Bend-based company Breedlove Guitars has donated a beautiful custom concertina guitar. The raffle will be conducted in conjunction with the 27th annual Sisters Folk Festival happening Friday, Sept. 27 through Sunday, September 29 in Sisters, but raffle tickets... Full story
The 2024 Artist Studio Tour, sponsored by the Sisters Arts Association, will take place Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in and around Sisters. Here is a look at what you can see in galleries in Sisters. Next week, we'll take a look at artists' private studios. You may start at any of the dozen locations – but a bright and friendly place to begin is Space in Common at 351 W. Hood Ave., where you will find four artists: Raina Verhey, Taylor M... Full story
A powerful and prolific storyteller through his songcraft, the Emmy-nominated, Oregon-born, and Southern California-bred, singer-songwriter-guitarist Jake Smith, aka The White Buffalo, will release his first-ever live album, “A Freight Train Through The Night,” on September 20. Smith is the son of Jeff and Ginny Smith of Sisters, and The White Buffalo has performed at festivals in Sisters on numerous occasions. Arriving on double-vinyl, in a limited, collector’s edition run, “A Freight Train Through The Night” is available... Full story
Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller, Montana's current poet laureate, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He will celebrate his new memoir - both personal and historical - at Paulina Springs Books in Sisters on Tuesday, September 10 at 5 p.m. (note the early event time). "Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home" is a testament to the power of storytelling,... Full story
Henriette Heiny is a woman thoroughly schooled in discipline and creativity. "She is a renaissance woman," said Karen Thomas, owner of Toriizaka Art in Sisters, where Heiny's work is on permanent display, along with being featured during the Sisters Arts Association Studio Tour. Abstract expressionism was the last thing on young Henriette Heiny's mind when she was a young teenager in Cologne, Germany, after World War II. "I remember painting copies of the Dutch masters in the... Full story
Emily Halnon will be one of the authors in attendance at a Literary Banquet Author Dinner on Saturday, September 14, hosted at Paulina Springs Books, 252 E. Hood Ave. The dinner is part of the Sisters Festival of Books. The event features a six-course chef’s dinner prepared by Jackson “Rooster” Higdon, owner of Luckey’s Woodsman in Sisters. Each course of the meal is themed around a featured author’s book and authors will rotate tables in between every course so that participants have the opportunity to chat with each feat... Full story
The Sisters Arts Association’s eighth annual Artist Studio Tour is happening on the third weekend of September. This is a self-guided driving tour, and it features 18 artists in home studios and host galleries, in and around Sisters. The Studio Tour takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Host galleries and home studios will be open to all visitors. The tour attracts visitors from all over the Northwest. The tour is self-guided and free to all. You may arrange your visit in any o... Full story
When Emily Halnon's mother died of a rare uterine cancer at the age of 66, Emily knew she wanted to do "something monumental" to pay tribute to her mother's adventurous and courageous spirit - and to process her own grief. Halnon - an accomplished ultra-runner (extreme long distance) - was determined to try to break the record for the fastest known time by a woman on the Pacific Crest Trail's 460 miles across Oregon. That journey - and the journey through grief - are... Full story
Anita Gail Jones loves book festivals. "It's fun to meet readers," she said. "People who go to book festivals love books, so you're really with your people when you go to book festivals." Jones is among the roster of authors who will offer readings and discussion at the Sisters Festival of Books September 13-15. Jones is the author of "The Peach Seed," recently long-listed for the Crook's Corner Book Prize. The novel is set in Albany, Georgia, where an under-recognized... Full story
Bigstock is returning to Hoodoo Ski Area on September 6-7 as a benefit for Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) and Cascadia Wildlands. Billed as "Two Days of Music in the Mountains," Bigstock will be headlined by award-winning artists, including Greensky Bluegrass, Margo Price, and Oteil and Friends, featuring Melvin Seals, Steve Kimock, Jason Crosby, Johnny Kimock, Tom Guarna & Lamar Williams Jr., and more. The event includes two days of music, food and drink vendors, educational... Full story
Sisters Book Festival, set for September 13-15, will offer a series of workshops with noted authors. Notions of wealth: A generative writing workshop exploring poverty and creativity — Friday, September 13, 4 to 5:30 p.m. Authors Tina Ontiveros and Chris/tina Vega both grew up in poverty. They will host a generative writing workshop exploring these themes and the economic impact of poverty on our writing practices, storytelling, and personal narratives. In this 90-minute workshop, participants will engage with writing p... Full story
Summer is winding down, temperatures are cooling, and families are heading back to school. Where has the summer gone? Sisters Arts Association's final Summer Fourth Friday Artwalk on August 23 offers one more opportunity to explore the galleries of Sisters with friends. Space in Common hosts oil painter Raina Verhey, whose impressionistic landscapes of the high desert and stone are a modern depiction of ancient and sacred spaces. Raina moved west from Georgia as a teenager.... Full story
Governor Tina Kotek has named Ellen Waterston of Bend, a celebrated poet/writer, teacher, and speaker who founded the Writing Ranch and the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, to a two-year appointment as Oregon Poet Laureate. Waterston will be Oregon's 11th Poet Laureate and succeeds Anis Mojgani, who has held the post since 2020. "Ellen Waterston stands out for her commitment to community engagement, her focus on bringing different ways of living and different parts of the... Full story
A new band in town, Salty Squirrel Hunters, debuted with their first concert Friday afternoon at The Barn. The group of middle- and high school-aged youth were students in the Branch to Fruit advanced music camp offered by SFF Presents. The show kicked off with a sparkling original tune, written and performed by seventh-grader Everett Danger Spurgeon on banjo. Then Tristan Marshall took center stage with his ukulele and stunned the audience with a complete rendition of Queen's... Full story
The 27th annual Country Fair in Sisters, a community fundraiser project of Church of the Transfiguration, delighted hundreds of attendees Saturday in near perfect weather. The cool, sunny day motivated fairgoers to gobble up old-fashioned goodies ranging from jams, preserves, and jellies to cookies and pies to pulled pork and chili. "And, of course, their amazing Marionberry cobbler," said Mary Gillespie from Cloverdale, a regular fair-goer. She comes primarily for the books,... Full story
The Sisters Festival of Books will celebrate the rich diversity of the creative spirit of writers in a three-day event set for Friday-Sunday, September 13-15. The weekend starts with a community StorySlam event at The Belfry on Friday, September 13, featuring storytelling and story-oriented music. The festival will also offer three workshops: Notions of wealth - a generative writing workshop exploring poverty and creativity, Friday, September 13, 4 to 5:30 p.m. facilitated by... Full story
Portland author Jeff Alessandrelli will share his novel "And Yet" at Paulina Springs Books on Thursday, August 22, at 6:30 p.m. An innovative work of fiction, "And Yet" interrogates contemporary shyness, selfhood and sexual mores, drawing out the particulars of each through historical references, cultural commentary, and the author's own restless imagination. Alessandrelli will be in conversation with Central Oregon Community College professor and writer Carrie J. Walker, who... Full story
Art lovers across Central Oregon are preparing for a feast of top-tier art in a wide range of media as Art in the High Desert returns to Bend August 23-25. The show will run Friday evening through Sunday afternoon at Riverbend Park across from the Old Mill District. The venue marks a return to Bend after 2023's show ran in Redmond, a development welcomed by both organizers and patrons. "Bend is where we've been for so many years, it seemed like the right place," said board... Full story
Central Oregon author Rick Steber has released a new non-fiction tale, titled “A Cowboy Goes To War.” Bud Fairclo was a cowboy who loved running wild mustangs and the open spaces of the High Desert. After the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor, he went off to war and returned home as one of the most decorated soldiers of World War II. Bud’s son, Larry, finds himself adrift in an era of civil unrest and the prospect of having to go overseas and fight in an unpopular war in Vietnam. His safe harbor lies in gleaning the detai... Full story
Makin' it Local will feature regionally acclaimed Central Oregon Artist Kathy Deggendorfer in an exhibition and print sale from August 23 through September 24. An Artists in Attendance reception is scheduled for the Sisters Oregon Fourth Friday Art Walk on August 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. "Patterns, Color and Texture" features newly released giclee prints by Deggendorfer. Makin' it Local: is located at 281 W. Cascade Ave. Deggendorfer lives on a cattle and hay ranch just outside of... Full story
Author Dede Montgomery will present her new memoir, "From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood and Aging" at Paulina Springs Books on Thursday, August 8, at 6:30 p.m. Montgomery meshes passages from her mother's memoir, journals, published book, and dissertation with her own memories and how her mother's journey influenced her own in a celebration of womanhood. Patty Montgomery was born between the World Wars and was reborn in the 1960s and 1970s during the... Full story
It's easy to think of the Air Show of the Cascades as just that - an air show. But that would be selling it short. Way short. Extravaganza? Yes. Festival? Yes. Spectacle? Yes. In the good sense. Above all, it's three fun packed, adrenaline pumping days formulated for families of all sizes, and all ages and all locales near and far. Indeed, attendees will come to the August 22-24 event in Madras from a dozen states, as many as a hundred flying into the event. There will be... Full story
Sisters will kick off its rejuvenated Sisters Festival of Books on Friday, September 13, with a StorySlam event at The Belfry from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Organizers promise an evening of storytelling, poetry, and music. True five-minute stories based on the theme “Stranger than Fiction” will be shared by authors visiting for the festival — and by the members of the Sisters community. The public is invited to sign up to share a story. Interludes from local poets and musicians will be interspersed throughout the evening. You can purch... Full story
The final SFF Presents Summer Concert of the year kicks off on Thursday, August 8, with the second annual Hometown Hang at Sisters Art Works. This free event celebrates the powerful regional talent in Central Oregon, putting Dennis McGregor and the Spoilers, Alicia Viani, and Joel Chadd center stage for a night of music and community. Dennis McGregor and the Spoilers' songs are often wryly twisted, making them pretty much impossible to call normal - that's what people like... Full story
The music of Led Zeppelin will thunder and roar across downtown Sisters on Saturday night as Hardtails Bar & Grill hosts Valhalla, a tribute to one of the most influential bands in the history of rock music. Vocalist Larry Smith told The Nugget, "We have the privilege and honor to do probably the best band that ever existed." Recreating the potent sound of Led Zeppelin is no easy task. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham each brought unique elements to... Full story
