News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Gas prices may be a boon to Sisters

Last updated Jun 10, 2008 12:0pm0
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As gas continues to rise in price throughout the country, some people in Sisters think pain at the pump may actually boost the local economy.

Emily Pelletier, owner of Cork Cellars Wine Bar and Bottle Shop at 161A N. Elm St. in Sisters, believes that there will be more visitors in town this summer.

"We are a great one-day stop, and the Sisters (Area) Chamber of Commerce has done such a good job promoting us in Portland and other places as a nice getaway without being too far away," Pelletier said.

Pelletier also predicts that locals will find that there are excellent stores in Sisters to be rediscovered. She said that residents sticking around town to do their shopping will find items they need at competitive prices while avoiding the extra cost of driving out of town.

At FivePine Lodge & Conference Center in Sisters, owner Bill Willitts is emphasizing the value of Sisters as a unique destination.

He has joined up with local lodging businesses Black Butte Ranch, The Lodge at Suttle Lake, Best Western Ponderosa Lodge, and Lake Creek Lodge as members of the Central Oregon Visitors Association (COVA).

Willitts cited statistics that show 60 to 70 percent of Sisters visitors come from areas that are one-day drives from Sisters. He likes the advertising COVA directs to that audience, explaining that a family can drive here and stay for the weekend for the same price as LasVegas air fare and car rental.

"It makes sense economically and even environmentally to come to Sisters," Willitts said.

He believes this is a major reason why occupancy in May this year was exceptional in Sisters, and will continue to stay high through the summer.

Customers are telling Stephanie Grant, Floor Supervisor at Sisters Drug located at 211 E. Cascade Ave., that they are staying in town more often to do their shopping because of gas prices. Grant said that people express gratitude for the friendly customer service and social interaction they find at stores in Sisters and are glad to avoid a trip into Bend.

Inside the shop at The Fly Fisher's Place at 151 W. Main Ave. in Sisters, owner Jeff Perin and his staff are busy explaining the local fishing history to out-of-town customers. Perin thinks people from the I-5 corridor will stay closer to home and visit Sisters rather than heading further to Idaho and beyond for their fishing trips.

"People might buy less high-ticket items, or maybe try to make their waders last another year, but they are going to continue to take their fishing trips every year, and hire guides, and definitely buy their flies," said Perin.

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Gas prices are on everyone’s mind

As a bartender at Coyote Creek Café, Justin Wolfe hears what people are talking about. Right now the focus is on gas prices.

"For the first hour of my shift the talk is all about the price of gas and people comparing how much they paid to fill up their tank. Then it switches to politics for the second hour," said Wolfe.

Wolfe served a drink to a trucker who took a stool at the bar and began a conversation with his neighbor about gas prices. He had just paid over $1,000 to put gas in his truck.

Wolfe said that some people he talks to are finding it hard to find the extra money it now takes to drive and that he is feeling the pinch himself. He drives to Bend and Redmond each week for softball which he says is worth the gas money, but tries to cut down driving in other areas.

"I live in town and walk to work occasionally and walk to the post office in town, but the weather is not cooperating right now for that. I use my tip money and started emptying a big change jar to make up the difference. It costs two bucks just to start your car now," he said.

Wolfe said that while most of the gas news is bad, his brother-in-law was able to afford a bigger diesel truck he had been looking at because of price reductions in vehicles with low fuel economy.

Jill McLane commutes from Sisters to Bend 12 days a month for work and drives to Prineville once a week to see her mother. McLane says she does not have the option to give up any of her drives and is unable to ride her bike or take the bus to work as she did when she lived in Seattle.

"I wish there were options for alternative transportation, but I have not found any. I checked out carpool sites with no luck. I think I am just stuck with paying more. I will still ride my bike into Sisters and continue to combine errands to conserve fuel like I have been," McLane said.

In town on business, Luke McCollum, a winemaker with Left Coast Cellars in Rickreal, Oregon, thinks that higher prices are on the way for all items that are shipped into small towns like Sisters. He feels those higher prices will make the gas price increase seem minimal. McCollum believes that although it is hard on people, the gas prices are causing focus to be given to creative solutions such as bio-diesel and converting wasted resources into fuel.

With gasoline prices going up daily, people in Sisters are finding ways to cope with the cost of running their vehicles and preparing for even higher prices.

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