Every day, unsung heroes walk among us on the streets of Central Oregon. One bright example can be found at the Midas shop off of 3rd Street in Bend. His name is Raul Fraga, and his brand of heroism is supporting the homeless. His passion...
Let’s be honest: A good laugh can fix most anything. Luckily, Bend is home to a host of funny women who help us chuckle and see the world in a fresh light. They are the daughters and granddaughters of Lucille Ball and Lily Tomlin, and...
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...
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...
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...
When Cassie Clemans first dreamed of starting her own business, she knew it needed to involve books. The mother of three envisioned creating a place in her Bend westside community that neighbors and friends could walk to and discover the world of reading. She pictured...
For two days at Oregon WinterFest, artists dig deep into their work with chainsaws and chisels and grinders. The crowds admire the craft, ogle the finished piece and then it all melts away. Watching ice carvers create their masterpieces at WinterFest is always a crowd...
A Central Oregon film company aims high with feature film The Astronot One mark of a good film is when the audience has no idea that the filmmaking wasn’t exactly glamorous. In the realm of independent film, long hours, low budgets, physical labor and unreliable rewards...