Letters to the Editor 09/12/2012

To the Editor:

I would like to commend and thank Sarah Rowland for her August 22 column entitled "Bats, Rabies, and Feeling the Fear."

By sharing her unfortunate ordeal with her community, as well as the choices facing her, we were treated to an interesting, well-written story, as well as an act of community concern and service. Thank you Sarah, for taking the time to educate and inform others.

Kimberley Fisher

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To the Editor:

My wife and I had the opportunity to spend the day in your beautiful city last week. We stayed in Bend but decided to take the gorgeous drive to Sisters and take in the sights and sounds.

Your Western theme of nice shops and friendly people made for a pleasant side-trip on our vacation. The high desert is starkly different but equally beautiful as the Puget Sound region of western Washington.

We hope to return to the Bend area again in the near future and you can bet we will definitely make the short trip to Sisters again. Thanks for the hospitality.

Larry and Karen DeFilippis

University Place, WA

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To the Editor:

Last week my family took a vacation to Leavenworth, Washington. My wife and I had been there several decades ago, and although it wasn't intended as a Sisters Country reconnaissance mission, we came home with some interesting

observations.

For anyone not aware, Leavenworth is a Bavarian theme town on the eastern slopes of the central Washington Cascades. Many suggest that Leavenworth is Sisters' largest and most direct competitor for the Pacific Northwest summer tourist.

We were astonished at how many people were in town. We had purposely arrived the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend, hoping to miss the holiday weekend rush, but town was packed.

We spent some time just wandering and shopping; we browsed an art show in the central park. The art was nothing special, but it suggested that their weekends were completely full with other larger events, yet there was still enough foot traffic to justify vendors setting up in the park on a weekday.

As we wandered the streets a few major differences became apparent. Most noticeable was a very strict adherence to the "theme-town" motif. The architecture (hanging balconies, ironwork, steeply pitched roofs, dormers, steeples and lighting) all made one feel as if they were in 17th-century Europe. The use of German words and phrases (Haus, Strasse, Garten) all added to the Bavarian feel, and the signs are all printed using a Gothic font. Even McDonald's and Subway signs had been reworked to meet both the corporate and Leavenworth policies.

Additionally, it was noticeable that the shopkeepers were "all in" as well. Many of the shopkeepers wore period attire (lederhosen, suspenders, corsets, hats and yes, Birkenstocks). In fact I think I saw Captain von Trapp patching a bicycle tire for the St. Pauli girl at

Der Sportsman.

Oom-pah music oozed from the shops and into the sidewalks. The number of hanging flower baskets was staggering as well. It seems every balcony and every planter was packed to overflowing with bright, colorful baskets and blossoms.

I'm sure the local proprietors would disagree, but from an outsider's perspective it appeared that in the middle of a sluggish economy, Leavenworth was thriving.

I don't know the reasons for the success of Leavenworth, but making the experience fun for the tourist certainly is a large part. For the better part of two days my family felt as though we were vacationing in the Alps.

It seems to us that Sisters could learn from Leavenworth and do more to leverage our Western theme to create a real "experience" for visitors so that we, too, can thrive in hard times.

Todd Williver