(Photo | by Rob Kerr)
Fires Cause Folk Festival to Cancel/Businesses Rise to the Occasion
The cumulative effects of a challenging winter, the Milli Fire, the non-event of the eclipse and then the loss of the Sisters Folk Festival are potentially devastating to the Sisters community. If you’re unfamiliar with the best little festival in the West don’t be fooled by the name Folk Festival as the event draws an impressive variety of world-class musicians and songwriters from North America and beyond, many are touring/career artists that much of the general public is not familiar with.
The model of All the Town’s a Stage is where music thrives in many corners of the community and each stage has its own personality and charm. Patrons decide between the venue and its charm, food, ambiance along with the artist performing and the style of music. Ultimately Festival goers end up many times stumbling into an unexpected positive experience they would have never expected.
With the cancellation and other challenges the Festival urges you to shop local whenever possible. And not just this week or next, but all year long. Local businesses, their owners and employees are the lifeblood of our local communities.
Before the Festival C&C Nursery brought in a truckload of plants to decorate the Festival stages. This year they closed the nursery earlier than usual and hosted a sale on the plants that were meant to adorn the Festival venues.
The restaurants and businesses in town that host festival stages were geared up, staffed up and provisioned to serve over 4,000 people. Patronize these locations to show your support for local business including Angeline’s Bakery and Cafe, The Belfry, Depot Cafe, Five Pine Lodge and Conference Center, Melvin’s Fir Street Market, The Open Door, Sisters Coffee Company and
Sisters Saloon and Ranch Grill. When the Festival announced the cancellation Five Pine immediately began offering special rates in October (check their website for current specials).
The numerous galleries in Sisters are open and eager to welcome visitors including Raven Makes Gallery, Sisters Art Works, Studio Redfield and Twigs Fiber Arts Gallery
“The Festival generates $1.2 million for the Sisters economy and without that revenue, local businesses will be severely impacted. The Festival cancellation, coming on the heels of a disastrous fire season, the lack of visitors for the eclipse and following a challenging winter, will be a blow to Sisters businesses, to say the least,” said Ann Richardson, managing director, Sisters Folk Festival.
“The Folk Festival organization has tremendous supporters and will come back better than ever next year. But we have great concern for the businesses that support us. We hope people will continue to shop local, eat out and support their community now more than ever.”
Festival Creative Director Brad Tisdel in a recent interview in Cascade A&E offered, “Things change and we look for opportunities to embed ourselves even more deeply in the community we serve. To enrich lives through arts and music is what we are committed to and we will continue to do that to the best of our ability in the schools and community. Over the course of the last three years, we have solidified the support and collaboration we have with the Sisters School District and we will continue to be creative and strategic in new ways to serve Sisters better.”
You can make a donation to the Sisters Folk Festival at www.sistersfolkfestival.org
