Papandrea's to celebrate 30+ in Sisters

The scorching summer of 1977 was one for the ages. Luke Skywalker blazed across the galaxy in "Star Wars"; KISS mania reached a fevered pitch; Reggie Jackson's hot bat would launch the New York Yankees into the World Series, and in the little Western town of Sisters, Oregon, Papandrea's Pizzeria was born.

On Sunday, June 27, from 6 to 10 p.m., Papandrea's Italian Bistro celebrates 33 years of feeding Sisters, one slice at a time, with an anniversary party featuring live music, pizza and drink specials, free birthday cake, prizes, giveaways and airbrush body art by Mike Yruegas.

Original owners Ray and Pat April will be on hand with tales from the pizza oven, along with several of their first employees still living in Sisters.

"Wow, has it been that long? We opened back in June, 1977, a week after Rodeo weekend and ran it all the way until 1999," said Ray April. "Papandrea was my grandmother's maiden name. She was from Calabria in southern Italy and it was her secret recipe that our sauce came from. All our basic recipes for the pizza, calzones and hot sandwiches started with her. She taught my mom and also my wife, Pat, all her Italian favorites. All handed down from family to family."

The April family had owned a business that distributed wholesale bakery products in the Portland area since back in the 1960s. Their signature pizza dough was derived from two different bread recipes combined and tested over the years.

"It was a yeast dough that we rolled out and let rise every day," recalled April. "Back then after we bought the place and remodeled it, we realized the key to success in Sisters was the local people and producing good food they would enjoy and want to come back for again and again. I'm proud of what we achieved."

Before the pepperoni and mozzarella aromas perfumed the downtown air, the site was home to a carhop hamburger stand called the Wagon Wheel. The Aprils stayed in Sisters for five weekends finalizing the deal to purchase the building. With no real statistics back then regarding traffic flow through town, Ray and Pat remember sitting in the window of their Sisters Hotel room, counting the cars for hours and taking notes.

Current proprietors, Kimball and Kristie Luff, have kept the Papandrea's tradition alive since taking over in 2006 when they moved here from Sun Valley, Idaho.

"We still have many of the original menu items from 1977, like the Papa Sub, Papa's Special Pizza and the calzones," said Kristie. "I love being connected to the community and all the kids and supporting their events, from rodeo to high school sports. There are so many kids who work here and make up our little extended family and come back every summer to hang out. Every year I try to pick a couple students from the School-to-Work program at the high school."

The Luffs expanded and improved on the back patio, adorning it with trees, shrubs, hanging baskets and a waterfall.

"My husband Kimball really gets into the gardening and spends a lot of time out there," said Kristie. "On warm weekend nights it's a popular place to relax and have a pizza or spaghetti and meatballs."

At one point in Papandrea's history, there were a total of eight restaurants in the empire, with locations in Oregon, Idaho and California.

"I was traveling over 200 days a year and it got very exhausting," said Ray. "Originally all we wanted was a way to make a living and be able to stay in the Sisters area, and it just evolved from there. We had four children and they all worked there, too."

Papandrea's is located at 442 E. Hood Ave. For more information call 541-549-6081.