Year closes with bluegrass hoedown

As 2007 spun down in Sisters, there was a hootenanny down at the old green barn at Pine Meadow Ranch. The Moon Mountain Ramblers provided the music with a bluegrass flair, as dancers took to the floor of the old dairy barn.

The barn, a landmark in the Sisters area, comes with a colorful history from the days it was the Sisters Dairy. Since that time the barn's owner has taken on the weighty task of insulating and preparing the building so it can be used as a year-round venue for the community to hold private functions.

Through the project the facility has seen many improvements over the years but still retains the quintessential character of its origins.

"When we first used this for a (sponsor party) venue during the first folk festivals, it was a lot of fun and we decided that we wanted to make it into a venue that could be used year-round. It has taken a long time to get back to it, as I was very occupied with the housing development (Pine Meadow Village) and have not been able to devote the time to it until the last year or so," said Doug Sokol, the barn's owner.

The Moon Mountain Ramblers were perfectly suited to the venue, spitting out toe tappin' sounds reminiscent of Appalachian mountain music. Even though they sound Appalachian they hail from only a few miles away - Bend.

"We are kind of a loosely formed group just brought together out of a love for this kind of music. Each of us writes music, and we play more of our music than we do covers," said Jenny Harada, the group's fiddle player.

The person who passes for the band's leader expressed the sense that no one really knows what might happen as they perform.

"We are constantly evolving as new people join the group and bring fresh ideas. We have music that expresses pure Americana but also crosses over at times into rock. It just depends on how things are going and what the flow is," said Matt "May" Hyman.

The venue and the music were perfect for a year's end and brought back images of old Sisters that may have never existed except in our minds.

"I am hoping that we can have more of these through the next year, now that the barn is insulated and wired for sound," said Sokol.