(Standing in front of the new Sisters Makers building, Willa Bauman and Shannon Thorson provide leadership for small artisanal businesses | Photo by TL Brown)
Five years ago, Sisters residents, nonprofits, consultants, and the City developed the Sisters Country Vision. The document specified creating a Sisters Makers District and promoting Sisters as the artisanal capital of Oregon.
But it can be rough, starting a small business in Sisters. The popular destination town has seen an increase in real estate and rental costs while both commercial and residential availability is often scarce. Thankfully, new avenues to success have opened up this year.
Makers, artists, craftspeople, artisans, and growers have cause to celebrate. The launch of the new Sisters Makers building and the expansion of Sisters Farmers Market bring new possibilities to town. Close collaboration between the two organizations benefits makers, vendors, and customers alike.
“We’re interested in serving folks,” explains Sisters Makers founder Shannon Thorson. “In Sisters, when you look at the cost of livability, it’s important that we do everything we can to strengthen this group of people because let’s face it, they need to be able to earn a good income in order to live here. So we’re looking for people that are business-minded, not your hobby artist or your hobby maker.”
At the edge of Fir Street Park alongside the farmers market, Sisters Makers engages members with infrastructure, exposure, resources, and an exceptional location. Small spaces in the building, which is owned by the City and leased to Makers at a reduced rate, serve as offices and studios.
Renters go through an application process, showing their commitment to growing their small businesses, and receive a bargain on rent: 30 percent below market rate. A community area with vaulted ceilings provides open working space for all Makers members — a shared space with large tables where members can rent lockers.
Eric Strobel of EDCO is thrilled by the organization’s rapid progress. “Makers has blossomed!” he exclaims. “All the studio offices in the Makers building are rented now — including Leafy Luxuries growing microgreens, Glimfeather Farms making soap and bath bombs.”
Winter Robinson is a co-owner of Leafy Luxuries. Originally from elsewhere in Central Oregon, Robinson returned to the area over a year ago, settling in Sisters to be near family.
“Maybe there’s a community amongst the young people who’ve lived here in Sisters their whole lives, but as something of an outsider, I didn’t feel like there was a place, a building, an opportunity for younger artists and makers to do stuff, to come together,” Robinson says. “I think that’s what Makers will become.”
The expansion of Sisters Farmers Market and solid growth of its nonprofit parent organization, Seed to Table Oregon, brings additional opportunities to local makers. The market has expanded into a second lot across the street from its home base at Fir Street Park in an arrangement with First Interstate Bank.
Collaborating with Makers, the farmers market now offers indoor vendor spaces and public activities as well, every Sunday during the market season, May through October. “The farmers market is somewhat of an entry point for many incipient-phase artists, makers, and growers,” explains Thorson, herself a designer and maker. “Involving them in the process is really important.”
Sisters Farmers Market manager Willa Bauman and the team at Seed to Table helped Makers gain a foothold in the city earlier this year. Sisters Makers is currently sponsored by RE:Vive Construction Services and Milroy Thorson Custom furniture makers.
Additionally, the organization is collaborating with Citizens 4 Community, School of Ranch, and Central Oregon Community College to bring small business and maker education to downtown Sisters. The mission of Sisters Makers is “to support entrepreneurial-minded artists, makers, growers and innovators through facilities, education, and advocacy,” Thorson says.
“We’ve got quite a few partners, folks that are interested in seeing this mission carried forward,” she adds. In addition to Sisters Farmers Market, she names EDCO, Explore Oregon, the City of Sisters, and Sisters Arts Association (SAA).
Where Makers occupies a niche, SAA is a broad-based membership group serving galleries, artists, and community for nearly a decade. The organization’s bustling Fourth Friday Artwalks and annual Artist Studio Tour provide the backbone for the visual arts scene in Sisters. The SAA helped provide artwork for the Makers launch; the new Makers building is on the map for SAA’s programming.
Collaborations make the Sisters community tick. With increasing opportunities for making, selling, networking, and learning, the town may well be on its way to becoming an artisanal hotspot.
