Fire damages Broken Top duplex
Bend firefighters responded to a fire in the Broken Top neighborhood this afternoon. The blaze, which was climbing up the side of the duplex at 61701 Bridge Creek Rd., damaged the exterior of the unit, according to Battalion Chief David Howe. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation “The Bend Fire Department…
Bend 2030 and COBA ask City Council to broaden gas tax discussion
In a joint letter sent to Bend City Council earlier today, community visioning group Bend 2030 and the Central Oregon Builders’ Association ask Council to consider street funding options beyond a gas tax. At the August 5 Council meeting, four City Councilors voted in support of putting a gas tax on the March ballot and…
Best New Recreation Opportunity
Nothing puts a kink in an otherwise lovely summer day like having to take a land-based detour on your float down the Deschutes. Of course, it’s better than the serious bodily harm that can come from freefalling over the dam. So we’re pretty psyched about the approaching completion of the Bend Whitewater Park (aka the…
Prohibiting Pot Shops
All legalization is not equal, as folks living in rural parts of Oregon are discovering. Before the end of the last session, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill granting significant local control over marijuana-related businesses, which means that some parts of the state may be off-limits to the budding industry. The bill allows city and…
No Slacker
Like most rock climbers in Central Oregon, Jason Fautz was drawn to Smith Rock State Park. But scaling those sheer volcanic cliffs was not what drew his attention. Having moved to the area two years ago from Washington, Fautz was “in a transition in my life;” he naturally sought out what was familiar to him—rock…
Best Real Estate Agent
When Christie Glennon started selling real estate about a decade ago in Central Oregon, the market was hot—second homes were leaving the shelves at a head-spinning pace, and for her first couple years, she worked as a licensed agent for Wyndham Worldwide in vacation property ownership. But when the housing bubble burst, roughly halving the…
Best Chef
Joe Kim, lead chef at 5 Fusion and two-time James Beard nominated chef, is a fusion himself. Much of his childhood was spent between San Francisco—where he was born and his dad lived—and La Pine, where his mother moved when he was 6 years old to raise him and his sisters. Kim’s dad is Korean,…
Central Oregon Housing Market on the Rebound
It’s no secret that Central Oregon’s real estate market is making a sound recovery and sellers are reaping the benefits. Home prices are up for the 48th consecutive month, and nearly 10 percent higher than at this point in 2014. This upward trend, combined with the scarcity of inventory in the lower price range, makes…
Best Bar in Redmond
Prepare to be wowed as you step onto the red carpet of this cozy, swanky joint. With a feel of something out of the roaring ’20s, Red Martini features a red velvet interior, signature cocktails, and outstanding creative edibles, as well as a professional wait staff. All in historic downtown Redmond, which is emerging as…
Source Suggests 8/12-8/19
Adrian Xavier Adrian Xavier has been billed alongside many notable musicians and pop stars. The son of a radio DJ who worked on Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 and a peace activist, music was ingrained in Xavier from a very young age. Now based in Seattle, he blends sax and fiddle to create a highly…
Make Your Own Summer Camp
Dave Dallas is well qualified to recommend activities for kids—he teaches third grade at Amity Creek School. He and his wife, Mary, are also known for their participation in strenuous outdoor activities. Dave is a triathlete who recently completed his first Ironman in Coeur d’Alene. Mary’s preference is cyclocross and mountain bike racing, and also…
Best Salad
Jackson’s Corner is simultaneously modern, yet revives that classic neighborhood market—a winning combination as dynamic as the mix of ingredients that make up their award-winning salads. “I am totally in love with the way Jackson’s is using organic produce and various proteins,” says Executive Chef Lindsay Duffy, who started at Jackson’s Corner as a line…
Vampires of the Pacific Northwest
When comics were just “funny books” and specifically aimed at kids (young boys to be precise), heroic men punching dastardly villains with a large “WHAM” or “BANG” drawn in was enough. But as the demographic has expanded far beyond young boys—and even grownup boys—and into girls and women, with expectations of more varied and sophisticated…
Complete Winners List
BEST OF FOOD Best Breakfast McKay Cottage Restaurant Second Place: Chow / The Victorian Café (TIE) Best Coffee Back porch Coffee Roasters Second Place: Strictly Organic Coffee Best Drive-Thru Coffee Dutch Bros. Coffee Second Place: Starbucks Best Vegetarian Next Level Burger Second Place: Broken Top Bottle Shop Best Lunch Spork Second Place: Jackson’s Corner Best Salad…
Best Cheap Eats in Sisters
This old-school burger and shake shop is a must-stop for summer travelers and is worth its own quick trip for Central Oregonians.
Best Cider
Atlas Cider is defining the leading edge for the nascent hard cider industry and showing what expanding potential the beverage has. This summer, Atlas opened a cider tasting room (along with rotating beer taps) on the outskirts of the Old Mill District. Its instant popularity has planted a flag in the ground for cider’s staying…
Best Reason to Attend a City Council Meeting
Unless there’s a particularly hot topic on the agenda (like, oh, vacation rentals), attendance at bimonthly City Council meetings can be pretty sparse. Especially when you subtract the people required to be there—select City staff, people testifying on agenda items, reporters. But sometimes, things get a little spicy. And for that, we can usually thank…
Best Steak
No matter how you like your steak, Brickhouse Steak and Seafood is where Central Oregonians prefer to eat it.
The Bard is Back
Each year Central Oregon is seeing more and more adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, with this summer’s traveling production of Macbeth and August’s fourth annual Shakespeare in the Park from Northwest Classical Theater Company. Under the guidance of Executive Director Grant Turner, this year NWCTC is taking on A Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare’s…
Best Dispensary
A sign on the front door of Oregrown declares that “the end of cannabis prohibition has finally arrived!” Long-time best friends and co-owners, Hunter Neubauer and Aviv Hadar, opened their medical dispensary in January, and Hadar is proud to say they “have been open every day since.” Starting as an agricultural business five years ago,…
Best Dinner in Sunriver
Whether Sunriver is your destination or you’re just passing through, chances are good you’re making a stop at Sunriver Brewing. How do we know? This year, the budding brewery claims the lunch, dinner, and bar categories. Though it only started production in January 2014, the brewery is already expanding, doubling its capacity to 5,000 barrels…
By Any Other Name
The name Rainbow Girls is misleading. With a name like that, and an origin story that has a group of women retreating to Joshua Tree to form their band, it is easy to assume this troupe is an easy-going, mandolin-plucking, sundress-twirling, hippie-dippie folk lovefest. Their list of appearances dotting northern California seems to underscore those…
Best Fundraiser
“We wanted the people who attended to have a good time and meet new friends,” says Humane Society of Central Oregon Community Outreach Manager Lynne Ouchida. “All of the attendees were like-minded in their shared passion for animals because they have all been touched by them. You can’t put into words the human-animal bond.” In…
Best Band
The sound is familiar, yet entirely new: For the past three years, Wilderness has been at the forefront of Bend’s local music scene with an alt-country noise-pop that wildly merges slamming drumbeats and soaring guitar riffs. But in January, drummer Bradley David Parsons stepped forward, along with Wilderness bass player Nick Graham and his brother…
Bernie Sanders’ Secret Sauce
Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign is surging. In July, nearly 10,000 supporters gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, to hear the 73-year-old socialist senator denounce the Koch brothers and corporate greed. Another 7,500 came to hear him in Portland, Maine. He fired up a crowd of 11,000 in Phoenix, Arizona and, last week, proved as popular as the…
Best Novelty Gift Store
Wabi Sabi is a feverish dream, a kaleidoscope of Japanese-inspired toys and seriously silly games, like the popular kendama, a ball-and-cup game that seems deceptively simple, that is, until it is attempted. The store, in general, serves as a portal to an entire culture and history. Wabi Sabi sprung six years ago from the brain…
Best Missed Opportunity
To be fair, the City tried to “save” the not-quite-an-acre of grass enclosed in chain link across from City Hall. It made an offer on the parcel but Bend-La Pine Schools wanted more. While no one would disclosed what the City offered, it was clearly less than the $1.9 million price tag on the property’s…
Letters 8/4-8/11
IN REPLY TO “POUNDING THE PAVEMENT” (8/5) That’s great. Former “mayor” moves on to represent petroleum companies. And we’re supposed to take what this jackass says seriously? I’m so tired of these dimwits claiming “poor me.” These are the same voices that scream to slash funding every budget cycle (except for the development lobby, of…
Best Hair Salon
Seeing the world through tangerine-colored glasses, the people of Bend have once again given the title of Best Hair Salon to the hip corner salon, Tangerine. Located downtown in the Oxford Hotel building, Tangerine had previously won Best Salon four years in a row and now has regained the title from last year’s winner, Blue…
Best Yoga Studio
Welcoming students to its 90-degree heated power yoga room, a small sign in the waiting area of Namaspa states “come as you are, not as you should be.” “There are no mirrors here,” says co-owner and founder Suzie Newcome, who encourages people to let go of any ideas of needing to be good at yoga…
Groundhog Day
In the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman forced to relive the same day. Although perhaps remembered as a belly-laugh concept and romantic comedy, in fact, the film is a nihilist exploration about a stubborn inability to change, adopt, and move forward as Murray’s character struggles to extract himself from the…
2015 Best Of Central Oregon
Central Oregon has a particular manner of evolving: It likes its classics—like, Phil’s Trail and breakfast at McKay Cottage (this year’s winner of Best Breakfast, for the sixth year in a row). But it also accepts newcomers, and quickly embraces and absorbs them. Like, consider that Phil’s Trail is only about a decade old and…
Best Breakfast
McKay Cottage has been open in Bend for nine years, but truly, the restaurant, set in a cozy 1916 bungalow, feels like it has been part of Bend’s lifestyle since time immemorial. Winning Best Breakfast six years in a row in a town that loves its breakfast is no easy feat, and McKay Cottage takes…
From Heptathlete to Prince
It has been three years since the Olympics in Bejing, so to refresh—the heptathlon is primarily a female event comprised of seven competitions in track and field including: 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin throw, and 800 meters. Needless to say, the contenders for this event are the baddest-ass divas…
Bend Brewfest: The Cheat Sheet
Ladies and gentlemen, get your livers ready. Run a couple extra laps around the block. Invest in a good water bottle. Maybe some pretzel necklaces, too. It’s gonna be a long weekend. Bend Brewfest is back, kicking off at noon sharp on Thursday and running (or staggering, depending on how much you indulge) all the…
Running on Empty?
“We have a historical funding problem with street maintenance,” explained Mayor Jim Clinton at the City Council meeting on August 5. “The only solution I see is to ask voters if they want to use a fuel tax to solve that structural problem.” Over the past several weeks, the idea to implement a gas tax…
Best Brewer
This year, the vote for Best Brewer gives particular insight to Bend’s brewing scene because it so accurately reflects the two directions the industry is going right now. The runner-up: Tony Lawrence, brewmaster and co-founder of Boneyard Beer, a man whose IPAs flow in seemingly every bar in Oregon and Washington. And, the winner, by…
Give This Film An Oscar
Within the first two minutes of Cartel Land, the quality and moral depth of the film is evident. It is a nighttime scene as several men, presumably Mexican, unload ingredients from a truck and begin to cook meth in smoking drum barrels. At first, there is nothing terribly novel about the scene; a man, masked…
Best Kombucha
Kombucha has come a long way from its roots as a funky homemade brew peddled by hippies and New Age types. The fermented tea drink has taken off in the last few years, with a number of breweries popping up in Central Oregon. But Humm Kombucha, originally known as Kombucha Mama, is a local trailblazer.…
Want Some Barbecue With Your Drink?
A year ago, the food cart Broken Top BBQ settled into its spot along NW Colorado, in the parking lot adjacent to Mountain Supply—just an easy three-block stroll from our offices. It was like Christmas in summertime: fall-off-the bone ribs, slow-roasted pork brisket, spicy barbecue chicken sandwiches. Owner T.J. McNabb had recently relocated from Portland,…
Donald Trump Tops Polls Following First Debate
Thursday’s Republican debate, hosted by FOX News, could have just as easily been a stand-up comedy routine headlined by Donald Trump, and featuring a long list of opening acts. Trump got the majority of the airtime, and many seemed to tune in just to hear what might come out of the gaffe-prone candidate’s mouth. At…
Best Men’s Clothing
Revolvr has only been open for a few months in downtown Bend, but winning Best Men’s Clothing so quickly speaks volumes for their reception. With a wide variety of clothing—including local designers—and all sorts of amenities for the modern gentleperson, the store is far from stuffy or snooty. Dayna Corbeille, the manager of our local…
Best Change of Heart
Last year, the Source’s most-read story was our coverage of the City’s decision not to renew Crow’s Feet Commons’ lease on the Mirror Pond Plaza, that City-owned courtyard between the ski/beer/coffee shop and Drake Park. Fans of the popular shop were outraged. Owner David Marchi was upset and confused. But it was about more than…
Film Events 8/12-8/19
The Hunting Film Tour A collection of short documentaries and travelogues, with beautiful vistas of Alaska (hunting caribou) and sweeping panoramas of eastern Montana (antelope). Probably no Zimbabwean lions, though. (Too soon?) 6 pm. Wednesday, August 12. Volcanic, 70 SW Century Dr. $10 adv., $12 door. Clean Spirit A response to the doping culture that…
Best Waste of Public Process
If we were to ask Franciscan friar and philosopher William of Ockham for advice (as in “Ockham’s razor”), he’d probably tell us the simplest solution, the one that relies on the fewest assumptions, is best. In this case, that would probably be taking out the failing Newport Dam and letting Pacific Power pay to restore…
Art Watch 8/12-8/19
A week ago, Mary Medrano opened her first solo exhibition in Central Oregon at the Rotunda Gallery in the Barber Library on the COCC campus. The exhibit is called Feathered Tales, featuring a series of 30 mixed-media paintings that Medrano created during the past six months. Finding inspiration in the natural world, Medrano uses painting…
City Moves Forward with SDC Exemptions for Affordable Housing
At its August 5 meeting, Bend City Council voted to move forward with an incentive plan aimed at encouraging the development of more affordable housing units. In its second and final vote, Council approved an ordinance that will waive some system development charges—the fees that help pay for infrastructure costs associated with new developments—for affordable…
