Sluka Stepping Down
St. Charles Health System CEO Joe Sluka is stepping down after eight years in the role, transitioning to a strategic advisor position. He’s being replaced in the interim by Dr. Steve Gordon, a health care executive and former member of the St. Charles Board of Directors who’s served in leadership roles for PeaceHealth in Vancouver,…
Gung Ho for Nate Bargatze
He has seen his great aunt and uncle get into a fist fight at a wedding. His dad was a professional clown turned magician. He is a die-hard Vanderbilt Commodores fan and a true Tennesse Kid. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hayden Homes Amphitheater for Nate Bargatze! Bargatze has been described as one of the…
Eat Food, Fight Hunger
The Giving Plate is a local resource offering groceries to local people in need. The organization bought its own building where it soon hopes to open a “grocery store” style food pantry where people can come in and grab what they need—but in the meantime, an upcoming event will help The Giving Plate meet that…
My first issue: Molly Ringwald.
Just a few months before stepping into the Editor job a decade ago in 2012, I had seen Molly Ringwald present a confessional talk at The Moth; she talked about being a mom, and about recognizing that her middle-school daughter was a bully, and her abject frustration as that went against her entire life-philosophy and,…
The Source Weekly Turns 25
In many ways, the story of the Source Weekly is the story of Bend—once small and scrappy, now a bit more citified… and populated by a Portlander or two or three. The Source Weekly, dubbed the “Deschutes Source” during its early days in 1997, has survived 25 years of fires, droughts, political upheavals, recalls, opt-outs,…
From Coast to Coast
Twenty-five years of the Source Weekly means a regular ebb and flow of staff. There have been several editors, hundreds of journalists and a constant flow of sales reps. However, the two owners from the beginning, the two that always have managed to quietly massage their paper forward, are Aaron and Angela Switzer—my lovely parents.…
The Column That Got Away
The Bend I remember of the late ‘90s and early 2000s was a place at constant war with itself. In some ways funny—the battles over roundabout art for instance. And in some ways serious—the election campaign of Les Stiles comes to mind. The sneaky implosion of the Old Mill to make room for a shopping…
The Ice Sculpture Incident
In the late ‘90s, the Source was nominated for a Drake Award for advertising. We were all delighted to attend the Drake Awards, an annual event that was put on by AdFed of Central Oregon and always had a fun theme. It was the closest thing we had to a red-carpet event in Bend, and…
What’s 25 Years When You’re 94?!
Holy Cats—25 years is a long time when you’re enjoying yourself! If my memory serves me correctly it was that long ago that Source Weekly publisher Aaron Switzer and his dear wife, Angela, asked me if I’d be interested in writing a weekly nature column for a newspaper they had created. Was I? You bet!…
Good Times in Lil’ Ol’ Bend
I’m not going to lie: I cried as I drove into Bend on a hot summer day in the summer of 1998. As we crept along Highway 97–which was then just Third Street–in a poky parade of bumper-to-bumper RVs and cars, I started to second-guess my decision to move to this small central Oregon town…
The Return of Inventory
Some interesting things are starting to happen in the Bend real estate market as we head full speed into the typical “busy season.” This year we have seen a massive shift as the year has gone along from frenzied to busy. Now when I say busy, I am speaking generally, the last couple years withstanding,…
Gotta Talk in Bend
Dear Dr. Jane, My wife and I have had problems with intimacy for years. The last time we had sex was early in 2021. I know that we need to have “The Talk” but I have no idea how to bring up the topic of intimacy without making things even more awkward between us. I…
All Hands on Deck
Dinner service at a fine dining restaurant can be a stressful endeavor to prepare for—but imagine doing it when you start the day without the patio furniture that normally seats over half of your nighttime guests. That was the nightmare faced by Laura Bliss, owner of Sunriver’s South Bend Bistro, after people made off with…
World’s Biggest Marble Hunt
On July 23, Central Oregon-based glass artist Hezakiah Mecham takes part in a world-record-breaking adventure that brings artists and marble hunters together from around the world. The World’s Biggest Marble Hunt sends participants on a quest to find the ultimate prize: a chest filled with $45,000 worth of treasure. The World’s Biggest Marble Hunt takes…
Water Woes for Farmers
On a sunny June day, Chris Casad sat on his tractor transplanting onions. Central Oregon had been seeing a wet season, but when he dug down a couple of inches, parts of his 360 acres of land in Madras were still bone dry: the weeks of rain had barely made a dent. …
2022 High Cascades 100
For die-hard mountain bikers in Central Oregon there is one race marked annually on their calendars: the High Cascades 100—a race that brings participants through 100 miles of pristine Central Oregon trails and deep into the mountains. Over 90% of the race takes place on the area’s famous single track, which means trails that are…
Horoscope Week of July 14, 2022
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Naeem Callaway founded Get Out The Box, an organization that mentors at-risk youth in low-income and rural communities. Here’s one of his central teachings: “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take the step.” Even if…
Letters to the Editor 07/14/2022
Guest Opinion: In Response to “The Well’s Run Dry,” Feature, 7/7 I read with interest Hanna Merzbach’s well-researched piece, “The Well’s Run Dry” as it confirms some of the concerns that I and many other residents who live along the Arnold Irrigation District’s main canal have about AID’s plan to pipe 12 miles of it,…
Make Shrubs, Be Happy
Shrubs are all the rage among the fancy-cocktail set, adding some freshness and caché to an ordinary drink. But shrubs aren’t just for cocktails—they can also be medicinal. Shrubs, defined as “a concentrated syrup that combines fruit, sugar, and vinegar,” can also be a refreshing drink and a way to consume plant medicine. On July…
The Barred Owls are Coming
First it was rumors, “The Barred owls are coming, the Barred owls are coming…” Next, it was the dire warnings that the barred owls were going to either chase all the Northern spotted owl out of the Northwest, or breed with them and bring forth a whole new sub-species called, “Sparred owls.” Then the warning…
Tripping Over the Details: The Proto-Psilocybin Industry
Oregon voters chose to become the first state in the nation to allow psilocybin, AKA magic mushrooms, for use in therapy when they approved Measure 109. The bill passed in Oregon with over 55% of the vote, including 52% of voters in Deschutes County. Psilocybin is deemed a Schedule 1 narcotic by the U.S. Drug…
Navigation Center Opens
Bend’s navigation center officially opened its doors on July 12, less than four months after the City of Bend approved a proposal submitted by Shepherd’s House to convert its overnight shelter into a 24-hour service center. It’s called The Lighthouse, meant to evoke a guide to safety that’s not the final destination. The center had…
A Publisher’s Reflections on 25 Years
Over the past 25 years, if there has been any truism in media it is that the only thing constant is change. I believe anyone who has been in media for a quarter century is eager to share stories of bygone eras. To the teller, initially, it seems just like yesterday, but when it trips…
Shaking that Money Maker, Part Two
When Chris and Rich Robinson made the November 2019 announcement that the Black Crowes were reuniting, it represented a reconciliation between the siblings after the band was blown up in 2015. The plan was to launch a lengthy reunion tour in 2020 commemorating the 30th anniversary of the group’s 1990 debut album “Shake Your Money…
If Wheels Could Talk
The trailer for “Esperanto,” Teton Gravity Research’s newest mountain bike film, concludes with the thought, “the language is something we use to communicate. It doesn’t have to be composed of words.” It’s fitting for a film that is in multiple dialects and highlights the biking culture of around eight different countries and over 20 athletes…
The Cannabis Consumption Conundrum
Summer is here! The great outdoors, longer days, vacations and engaging in social situations with others, which for many will result in frequent cannabis consumption sessions. In other words, y’all are gonna get hiiiiiighh with your friends every damn where, all the damn time, for the whole damn “Hot Stoned Summer.” Smoking circles are back…
Noticias en Español
Los votantes de Oregon eligieron pasar a ser el primer estado en la nación en permitir el uso de la psilocibina, también conocida como hongos alucinógenos, para el uso en terapia, al ser aprobada la Medida 109. El proyecto de ley fue aprobado en Oregon con más del 55% de los votos, incluyendo al 52%…
The Goo Goo Dolls Hit Bend
Invading the pop charts with alternative rock like no band had before, The Goo Goo Dolls have made a name for themselves that will live on forever. Songs like “Iris, “Name,” and “Slide” will ring a bell for anyone, but their discography is four-decades deep and their fans are die-hard. John Rzeznik (guitar/vocals) and Robby…
Marvel, Marvel, Everywhere!
I get it. Everyone has superhero fatigue now, because between Marvel, Disney and DC, we get two dozen comic book movies a year with only a small handful of them being any good. Marvel is also struggling a bit critically right now because they don’t really seem to be building toward anything so far with…
