Sisters salutes...

• Dawn Cooper and Theresa Slavkovsky, of Sisters Family Access Network (FAN), would like to thank the community of Sisters for their support of the Empty Bowls event, held at Sisters High School on April 29:

Thank you to Mike Baynes and all his art students for throwing and glazing over one hundred bowls that were sold during the evening; to local potters Mitch Deaderick and Ken Merrill for their donation of creative ceramic bowls; to the Sisters leadership class and art class students for their help with set-up, serving, and clean-up.

A huge thank you to Zak Andren, Bree McClung, Sarah Sanchez, and Vicky Thatch for washing dishes for four hours straight. Thank you to Leland Bliss, Lorri Melton, and Terri Rood for all their help with ordering and preparing the meal.

We salute Jody Henderson, Jared Henderson, and Tanner Smith for their perfect, eloquent music; and thank you to artist Drew Herron for designing the poster and to XPress Printing for donating the printing; And always to Pinky Pagano for taking reservations and heading up ticket sales. Thank you one and all.

• Jeri Fouts and Susan Arends, Starry Nights co-chairs wrote:

As we conclude the 12th season of the Sisters Starry Nights Benefit Concert Series, we wish to express our tremendous gratitude to the sponsors, concertgoers, student performers, school staff members, local businesses and volunteers who have given their commitment to the students of the Sisters School District once again.

Starry Nights began in 1997 as a fundraiser for the newly formed Sisters Schools Foundation, with old friends Karla Bonoff, Kim Carnes, Kenny Rankin and Nicollete Larson agreeing to donate performances to help us reach our first-year goal of raising $30,000 in much-needed funding. From the start, the community stepped up and joined us - with companies like Ray's Food Place, Taylor Northwest and Bank of the Cascades leading the way.

These efforts were mirrored by the extraordinary generosity of many more great artists who have donated their time and traveled thousands of miles to provide magical evenings on the Starry Nights stage 31 times. The warm welcome and hospitality they always receive from the community is a key reason the good word has spread within the music business about Sisters and this event. 

This year, with reduced ticket pricing to reflect today's economic realities, we are proud to announce that we have met our goal of raising $70,000 in net proceeds, putting Starry Nights over the $910,000 net mark after our dozen years of concerts. The million-dollar milestone, which once seemed so distant, is now within reach! 

We applaud our amazing 2009 headliners, Hal Ketchum and Michael McDonald, their bandmates, and the sensational student performers from Sisters Elementary, Middle and High Schools, including members of the SHS Jazz Band, Choir, and Americana Project. We offer special kudos to the staff of Leavitt's and the hardworking members of the Starry Nights Planning Committee, many of whom have been a part of the event since day one.

During these challenging economic times, now more than ever, we appreciate how lucky we are to be a part of this caring community, where people put kids first.