We might think of Bend’s tourism marketing machine as a new phenomenon, born in recent boom times. But in fact, appealing ideas thrown out to lure folks to certain places is a practice that has been going on for a long time. For instance, have...
As a young girl learning to drive a tractor on her family farm in La Grande, Oregon, Mariah Young never guessed she’d one day use those skills to navigate a truck full of fashionable clothing. But that’s exactly what this thirty-three-year-old entrepreneur did. Young is responsible...
Behind a set of swivel doors at a Bend institution, a whole lot of beer tasting goes on in the early morning hours. It might sound like a party that’s either gone on way too early or way too late, but for Veronica Vega, drinking...
LOCAL GOODNESS New Asian dining on the westside In Japan, “ajii” means taste, flavor, charm, style or experience. In Bend, Ajii means a new Asian restaurant on Bend’s westside. Joe Kim, who is also chef and owner of 5 Fusion in downtown Bend, now presents this fast,...
They say variety is the spice of life, and this may also apply to food trends Humans love. We love to sample new and unusual flavors, and it seems like every few years a new spice trend appears. A couple of years ago, it was...
Apinch of retired fire chief, a dash of construction supervisor and a generous amount of hormone and antibiotic-free prime cuts: the recipe for Sisters Meat and Smokehouse. This concoction began forming five years ago when Sutherlin native Brody Waller, who’d been making a living in...
A child carrying a round plastic saucer marches up a snow-covered hill to a predetermined launch pad. His eyes radiate happiness as warm steam exits his mouth into the crisp winter air. The slippery vehicle gets placed beneath his bottom—carefully, so as not to launch...
We exited I-84 in the Columbia River Gorge at the point where Highway 97 heads south. The hustle of the big city to the west was long behind us, and it felt like we might be heading off into nowhere. The lonesome wheat fields blew...
Dr. Shirley I. Metcalf has been president of Central Oregon Community College since September 2014. She was born and raised in Hawaii and spent several decades in that state before relocating to Kirkland, Washington, and then Bend, with her husband Wayne. Here she shares her...
Imagine passing by a former hunting lodge while on vacation, buying it, moving your family across the span of the United States and opening a Christmas store. That’s what the Wood family did 23 years ago while they were visiting Oregon from Florida. The store...