(Bedouin | Photo courtesy of Bedouin)
The Sisters business community has been adapting to change: a new brand for the town, altered distribution of the City’s TRT tax, and two new organizations playing a role in how local businesses gather and operate. Some business owners and residents are excited; others are concerned about losing what makes Sisters special.
Sisters Business Association (SBA) is a new group offering business memberships beginning at $325/year. Harmony Thomas, who bought beloved Sisters clothing boutique Bedouin store six years ago, plans to join. “They have wonderful, fresh energy and a lot of great ideas,” she explained. Thomas also appreciates that they allow non-members to join meetings.
“SBA wants to see advocacy, and consistency in business hours, and draw more customers from Redmond and Bend,” according to EDCO’s Eric Strobel. The group’s appeal for Thomas includes its focus on “local connection, local customers, and local events.” She’s also pleased to see that many of SBA’s founding members are newer business owners in town — folks like her who purchased existing businesses, along with those starting up new ventures. Learn more at sistersba.com.
Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce has long provided marketing and promotional services for Sisters businesses. CEO Judy Trego notes, “These include the Sisters Country brand, website, and social media.” The website at sisterscountry.com is public-facing, featuring lodging, dining, retail, and tourism-related materials.
The Chamber produces publications including a tourist map and the annual Sisters Rodeo insert. Resources are available to help struggling members, according to Trego. Membership starts at $278/year. Sisters Harvest Faire is produced by the Chamber as well, bringing in 10,000 visitors during the autumn shoulder season.
For over 30 years, the Chamber received a portion of the transient room tax (TRT a.k.a. TLT) collected by the City of Sisters from lodging establishments. Over the last two years, the City has transitioned to a new tourism marketing approach: destination management organization (DMO).
The nonprofit Explore Sisters was launched, receiving those TRT revenues and aiming to strike a balance between the older tactic of luring as many visitors to town as possible — the “heads in beds” approach — and supporting area livability, safety, and natural environment.
Executive director Scott Humpert was recruited from Lincoln City and met with stakeholders to form a board of directors. The Chamber, however, retained ownership of creative assets developed in its decades of marketing for the City: photography, website, and the whole Sisters Country brand. Explore Sisters had to start from scratch.
“It’s not just about marketing and bringing visitors in, it’s acknowledging that there are impacts both good and bad,” explains Humpert. The organization’s primary source of revenue is the TRT; Humpert plans to expand the funding base.
Bedouin’s Thomas sat on a committee for developing a new Sisters brand. Explore Sisters hired an agency from outside Central Oregon that specializes in culinary and wine destination marketing. “I love that Explore Sisters is making a strong attempt to share all the businesses on social media,” Thomas says.
Not everyone has been pleased. An article in The Nugget found residents angered by the DMO’s rollout. “Where’s the beef?” asked Bill Kelly, a retiree with marketing experience who serves as chair of the Public Works Advisory Board. “Where are the deliverables?”
Since then, a website has launched at exploresisters.com, along with advertising and an information vestibule. The approach is noticeably different from old-school Sisters charm; now Portland writers exhort people to think of Sisters “as a Western town that got a mani-pedi and developed an impeccable taste in Oregon wine and craft cocktails.”
This is not your grandpa’s Sisters, Oregon. Yet the rise of Sisters as a tourist destination owes much to its old-timey flavor. Events with deep roots in Western settler traditions built the town’s strong reputation and tourism infrastructure: Sisters Rodeo, Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, and Sisters Folk Festival.
The DMO still promotes those events. It’s also stepped up to support local happenings such as a new Fourth of July gathering at the Village Green, and the creation of Sisters Makers.
Kelly notes that the Sisters Country brand “is more of a Western scene,” whereas “Explore Sisters is more of the Central Oregon theme: outdoors, events, concerts.”
The town has been known for decades as a quirky spot with plenty of character and a slow pace that appealed to urban visitors. “Like the sticker says, ‘Don’t Bend Sisters,’” declares Kelly. “It’s frustrating for the people who live here.”
Humpert describes the new vision of Sisters as “The Old West, all grown up.” Will the approach pencil out for locals and visitors alike? Only time will tell.
