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 […]
Staff Pick
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Reason to Attend a City Council Meeting
Barb Campbell and Casey Roats
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 […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Opportunity To Market Bend
The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund
Last fall, taxpayers voted on measure 9-94, a transient room tax increase that set aside funds to be distributed fairly among Bend’s arts organizations. Nice job, taxpayers. The opportunity to start a granting program for the arts that will potentially help to bolster tourism in shoulder seasons and winter months, diversifying tourism offerings and injecting […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Calves
Bike Mechanic Barb Bohm-Becker
Every type of athlete has a muscular calling card (think: swimmers’ sculpted lats, runners’ killer quads). For cyclists, it’s cut calves that call out to passersby—sinewy and strong as they pump the pedals. And while there is no shortage of impressive gastrocnemii (that’s Latin for “stomach of the legs”—fitting, since at their peak, they are […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Variety Show Host
Shanan Kelley
Shanan Kelley pointed out that naming her best variety show host is like saying she’s our favorite only child. She’s the one-and-only variety show host in town, and with her team of expert humorists, musicians and film crew, she’s been putting together live episodes of The Night Light Show at Tin Pan Theater for the […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Place to Nerd Out
Pegasus Books
Duncan McGeary has owned Pegasus Books in the same location on Minnesota Avenue. for 30 years. He is the second owner only to Mike Richardson, now the publisher of Dark Horse Comics in Portland, who owned the shop for five years before McGeary took over. The downtown store is legendary for anyone in Bend who […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Bend-Inspired Tattoo
Joey Hayes by Ryan Osborne at Monolith Tattoo
While tattoos dedicated to fleeting human loves are often ill-advised, paying homage to a city is a far less risky proposition. That’s not to say a person can’t fall out of love with a city, but their new object of geographical affection isn’t likely to be jealous of the former lover. That’s why we sought […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Brother/Sister Writers
Benjamin and Jennifer Percy
Growing up in Central Oregon offers plenty of material for creative writers. Just ask Benjamin Percy and his little sister Jennifer, both of whom have made names for themselves among American Literati. Ben, who describes himself as a “side-burned, growly voiced author,” has set much of his fiction in and around Bend — including his […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Butte
Luna Butte
If you like buttes, then you live in the right place. Bend is surrounded by hundreds of them. Between Pilot Butte and Newberry Crater 22 miles to the south, there are more than 70 cinder cones that rise 100 feet in height or more. One of my favorites is Luna Butte, located 15.5 miles south […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Beer Named After a Person
No Quit Wit
A decade ago, Gary Bonacker, Sunnyside Sports co-owner and mountain bike pioneer who spent the '70s and '80s bombing around Mt. Bachelor on a clunky bike, hit perhaps his hardest obstacle yet: He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. But Bonacker, now 60, went through chemotherapy and survived with his wit, charm and dedication […]
