Pickin’ & Paddlin’ has become a cornerstone of the Bend summer music scene. The annual series raises funds for Bend Paddle Trail Alliance and their efforts to transform the Colorado Avenue Dam into Oregon’s first whitewater park. Live music paired with kayak, canoe, and standup paddleboard demos; beer; and a beautiful location right on the […]
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Posted inNews
Mean Streets
Cyclists say Bend’s roads are not bike-friendly
on a recent Friday, Jim Slothower was riding his bike from Bend to Redmond for a family dinner. The experienced cyclist says he was making good time, about 25 miles-per-hour along Obsidian Road, when an approaching car turned left directly in front of him. “I swerved to right to avoid head-on [collision] but went down […]
Posted inOutside
Call of the Wild Gives a Pep Talk
Emilie Cortes delivers OSU-Cascades’ commencement speech about risk and fear
Emilie Cortes delivers OSU-Cascades’ commencement speech about risk and fear Emilie Cortes is a bundle of energy. She wasn’t meant for a desk job, yet she spent 17 years as a financial analyst before ditching her job in San Francisco to move to Bend and take the helm at Call of the Wild, a company […]
Posted inCulture
Summertime, and the Box Office is Humming
A few summer film standouts
This summer is an odd mix of reprisals—Poltergeist, Vacation (really?), and Jurassic Park—as well as the normal dose of superhero films—Fantastic Four (messing it up once wasn’t enough?), Ant-man—but it also has a surprising helping of high quality documentaries. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (June 12): The likely contender for summer favorite breakout […]
Posted inMusic
I Still Like To Hear That Funky Dixieland
The Doobie Brothers bring their bongs and boogie music to town
In so many ways, the Doobie Brothers tell a Joan Didion history of California’s pop culture of the 1970s—and beyond. As the 1960s crashed to a close with doomed shows like Altamont—where self-appointed Hells Angels bodyguards stabbed to death a concert goer—the Doobie Brothers began to pull together their own band, with funky and catchy […]
Posted inFood & Drink
When Local Means Your Neighbor
Inaugural Faces of Farming event introduces personalities behind Central Oregon agriculture
“Farmers are underappreciated, unsung heroes who are so vital to our community,” says Nicolle Timm, founder of Central Oregon Locavore and a new event, the Faces of Farming. “I wanted to create an event for them. To show them appreciation and put them in front of a larger community, to be recognized and acknowledged.” Saturday, […]
Posted inCulture
Rome in Two Hours
A funny thing is happening at CTC
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is packed with jokes. From each character name to every motivation, Forum‘s script and music is designed specifically as a joke delivery system. There is even one hiding in its title: Back in the day, vaudeville comedians would often begin a joke or a story […]
Posted inNews
Tone It Down
Mexican restaurant forced to repaint following complaints
When El Sancho co-owners Jon Barvels and Joel Cordes started work on the brick-and-mortar version of their popular Mexican food cart, they chose bright, bold colors that call to mind a Latin American market—lemon yellow, cherry red, aqua, and royal blue. But not everyone appreciated the colorful paint job. City Code Enforcement Supervisor James Goff […]
Posted inNews
Frog Out of Water
Decreased water levels at Colorado Dam threaten endangered species
The delicate balance between human-driven development and wildlife conservation came to a head last month when the extraction of the Colorado Avenue Dam caused an unexpected drop in water levels in the adjacent marsh, threatening the habitat of the endangered Oregon spotted frog. “When they pulled the dam out, it pulled the water out of […]
Posted inOutside
If Rock Climbing Can Have Gyms . . .
The sport of parkour gets its first indoor training site in Bend
Eric Corrales never met an obstacle he didn’t like. Always in motion, Corrales uses them as a means of propulsion, employing a series of leaps, jumps, and flips to traverse elements in the natural landscape. An evangelist of parkour—a sport that turns urban landscapes into obstacle courses—Corrales is poised to open Bend’s first indoor parkour-dedicated […]
