News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
He drove two- and one-half days to get to the 2024 Harvest Faire in Sisters, the 15th sponsored by Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce. It was a 1,781-mile journey for Ryan Stanley, one of 172 vendors at the event which drew as many as 10,000. Some vendors estimated 12,000 and seemingly they could not be more pleased with the outcome.
Face painting is always a fun aspect of the Sisters Harvest Faire for the young ones.
When asked why he would travel so far for a weekend show, Stanley said, "Well first of all it's a beautiful drive, so the time goes quickly. And I know when I get there I'm virtually guaranteed of good weather. Plus, I have good friends in Sisters now, folks who started out as customers."
This is Stanley's fourth Harvest Faire. He does 20 shows a year, mostly in Minnesota and the Dakotas and one in Chicago. He can make them all in an easy one-day drive. But Sisters he insists is unique. "It's not just that it's a small town - all of my shows but Chicago are - it's the mix of shoppers and fellow exhibitors that I can't easily describe."
"Going to fairs and festivals in the Midwest is risky. You never know what you'll get with the weather. I've had my tent blown down more than once," he said.
The Sisters Harvest Faire drew several thousand people to Sisters over a very pleasant weekend.
Indeed, the weather could not have been more ideal.
"This feels like home," said Myron Shapiro from San Diego, famous for its favorable weather. He and five others came for a golf weekend at Eagle Crest and after a round "... took a chance on this thing we saw an ad for," said Helen Prince, one among the group.
"We thought there'd be 10 or 12 booths and we'd be here an hour," she added. "It's been four hours now and we're not all the way through the fair," her pal Celine Lipscomb said.
A majority appeared to be local, unlike the folk festival and quilt show which draw its greatest numbers from out of the area. Traffic was thick with those walking dogs, pushing strollers, or in walkers or motorized wheeled chairs.
Flow would back up as so many locals struck up conversations and compared purchases.
Nancie Miller, right, and JJ Collier, had a good weekend at the SeaStar Fused Glass booth.
By rough estimate each vendor had at least 200 pieces of whatever they were selling, meaning shoppers faced a display of some 35,000 items from which to choose.
"It's a bit overwhelming to the senses," said Sophie Adams from Bend. "My eyes get blurry from so many fun and good things."
The Sisters Harvest Faire was a veritable feast for the eyes, nose, and stomach. There was every imaginable sauce, spice, rub, jam, jelly, sweet, seasoning and exotic flavor like black garlic and wine salt.
"I can't tell if this is a food fair or an art fair," said Lily Younkin from Sublimity, Oregon. Others like her struggled to categorize the cornucopia of offerings. Men and kids had as many buying choices as women.
At least a dozen youth soccer teams were observed, still in uniform, having completed their Saturday morning games. They had no trouble finding a range of appealing merchandise from kaleidoscopes to kettle corn.
Andi and Sawyer Morgan, ages 9 and 5, check out kaleidoscopes.
Dads and granddads packed tents that housed all things BBQ or carvings. Kids fixated on hand-carved animals. Grandmas packed tents that specialized in knitted wear for infants and toddlers.
Nancie Miller, an exhibitor, who started life in Camp Sherman nearly 80 years ago, reckoned that this was her 44th fair. She reminisced about the first such fairs that were at Village Green. She articulated the long and successful history of the annual event and its several locations before settling on Main Avenue, closed to traffic from Elm to Larch streets.
At the Fir Street Park bandshell attendees were treated to rotating music from Dry Canyon Stampede and Christy Neal. There was impromptu dancing, and a few buskers posted at either end of the tent rows to add to the festive nature.
The Chamber provided chalk for sidewalk art. Deschutes County Sheriff's office stationed two deputies for the event, given its magnitude. They appeared to be having every bit as much of a good time as the strollers.
Saturday's throngs gave way to a more navigable scene on Sunday. Miller sold out all her fused glass window hangings by noon Sunday. Some exhibitors started breaking down their tents ahead of closing time Sunday having run out of their bestsellers.
Surrounding eateries and water holes had full houses most of both days. Downtown merchants, while seeing more traffic from spillover, said that shoppers had made most of their purchases at the fair by the time they wandered into their shops and left with fewer purchases than the numbers would suggest.
"We'll be back," promised Dara Newsom from Eugene as she and her three friends stuffed the back of their car with purchases. "Next year can't come soon enough."
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