As the benevolent face of Skip Armstrong’s new Mother Earth statue watches over ample July crowds, and the last waves of devoted quilters filter through the surprising heat, it’s high time to inspect the mid-summer barometer of Sisters’ tepid yet tenacious economy.
July 4th came in with a bang and acted as a patriotic prelude to the annual Sisters Quilt Show and its throngs of craft quilters from all over the globe. Most businesses reported steady but unimpressive sales for the first half of the summer season but saw a post-holiday uptick entering late July to give momentum to their register drawers and balance sheets.
Enhanced by a spruced up downtown featuring wider, themed sidewalks, pedestrian benches and floral enhancements, Sisters was dressed up and prepped for the annual summer boost.
Sisters Mayor Brad Boyd sees this summer season as a huge success.
“Business is up and I’m hearing it from the restaurants and merchants on Cascade Avenue,” he said. “People are traveling and spending money and it’s all good. I think the new revitalized Cascade Avenue looks great. It’s so much more pleasant to walk along. The plants are going in and the street lamps will be installed soon and Public Works has made a concerned effort to make sure Main, Cascade and Hood look great. All the corner bulb-outs have been replanted and it looks so much better than before.”
Boyd is especially excited about the new Fir Street Park that should be completed this month with a community ceremony.
“It’s going to be gorgeous and on these hot summer days, if you’re a young family, it’s just one more thing to do in Sisters for free. I think that park is going to get a lot of use.”
Jeff and Jennifer Haken, owners of Garden of Eden Gifts, tell a slightly different tale of a more measured response to the yearly tourist rush. Their eye-catching storefront on Cascade beckons customers with a kaleidoscopic array of whimsical windspinners, house flags, feather banners and novelty items.
“We’ve been down about ten-percent,” said Jeff. “It’s really hard to have a full recovery economic with gas prices so high.
“We love the Cascade upgrades and the coordination between the downtown businesses and ODOT was great. From March until the end of May, when they re-opened the street, we were down about 35-40 percent so the biggest part of it for us was not having money to inventory up. But once the street was completed we jumped up nicely.
” And I attribute a lot of that to rising fuel costs. We’re finally catching up and optimistic about the rest of the summer. So if the store breaks even with last year we’ll be very excited. It’s getting better every day, it just took a little while to catch up. “
Javier Luna’s Rancho Viejo Restaurant is a local fixture for memorable Mexican food and traditional stopover for visiting tourists. He greatly thanks all the locals for coming out to support him during the recent highway closure.
Rancho Viejo Mexican Restaurant Owner Javier Luna
“I’m already up for the summer, by a big number,” he said. “We were ahead 32 percent in June alone! Redoing Cascade Avenue has brought more visitors to town, and combined with our own remodel, side access, expanded back patio and bar, it’s really made a huge difference. I think the new paint really pops.”
Luna’s cantina grill is sporting festive new colors inside and out, including additional windows to draw more natural light.
