Scout and Rotary spruce up gateway

The “Welcome to Sisters” marker at the west end of town is a lot more welcoming now, thanks to the efforts of Eagle Scout Derrick Alderman and the Sisters Rotary Club.

The Scout and the service club joined forces to put pavers around the marker as the first phase in the creation of a mini-park on Highway 20 across the road from the Sisters Ranger District office.

Alderman mobilized a big crew of workers to smooth the area and cut and lay the pavers on Saturday, April 16.

“We’ve got some Boy Scouts, some Rotary Members, some from the Church (Latter Day Saints), some scout-masters,” Alderman said. “The general manager of Hoodoo brought some of his people.”

The park, when completed, will have benches and streetlights and lighting on the large stone “Welcome to Sisters” marker. The area will be landscaped with input from the Sisters Garden Club.

“We’ve got probably a 3 to 4-phase project,” said Rotarian Jim Craig, during a break from loading gravel.

Craig and other Rotarians had earlier placed the marker on the Hood Avenue extension, further west on Highway 20. When ODOT told them it had to be moved due to a new road configuration, the club moved it to the spot where Highway 20 and Highway 242 once intersected.

The rock was simply plopped down in the dirt — dirt that often turns to mud. Still, tourists slog through it to get their pictures taken in front of the sign, Craig said.

It seemed important to the club and to the city to spruce things up.

“From my perspective,” said Craig, “this spot right here is the gateway to Central Oregon.”

The project beckoned when Alderman asked City of Sisters Public Works Director Gary Frazee for ideas for a beneficial Eagle Scout project.

The city donated pavers, Robinson & Owen Construction donated gravel, the Rotary Club donated other supplies.