▶️ Thousands come out to shop local at the Locavore Holiday Gift Faire

Locavore held their 15th annual Holiday Gift Faire Saturday at the Universalist Unitarian Church in Bend.

A packed crowd came to shop locally made food products, crafts and artisan gifts just in time for the holiday season.

With over 80 vendors on hand at this popular event, shoppers were guaranteed to find unique and sustainable gifts while keeping their money local.

“I think that a lot of people are becoming more and more interested in supporting the local economy, supporting their neighbors who are crafters and artisans and less interested in stuff,” said

Nicolle Timm-Branch, the founder and executive director of Locavore.

A portion of the proceeds from the event benefit the Locavore non-profit and help them carry out their mission for the year to come.

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RELATED: BPRD hosting annual Hollinshead Homestead open house Saturday

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▶️ Musicians of all ages perform holiday classics at 3rd annual Tuba Christmas

Tuba Christmas returned to COCC in Bend on Saturday for their annual holiday performance.

The all tuba and euphonium instrumental tradition played holiday songs bringing joy to both musicians and the audience.

Tuba Christmas events happen all over the world, and this is the 3rd year it’s been organized locally.

Around 20 tuba players of all ages and skill set came together dressed in festive clothing for the concert.

The free event was open to the public and grows bigger each year.

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▶️ Summit, Redmond, and Ridgeview girls basketball all win at home Friday

On Friday night, the Summit Storm girls basketball team defeated the Sprague Olympians.

The Storm’s next home game is December 15th against Sheldon.

Ridgeview remain unbeaten at 3-0 after a victory over Churchill.

The Ravens do not have another home game until they face Summit on January 5th.

▶️ Redmond church seeks property owners interested in safe parking sites

Deschutes County commissioners voted 2-1 this week to approve allowing safe parking sites on county land between Bend and Redmond. 

Commissioners Phil Chang and Patti Adair voted in approval. Commissioner Tony DeBone did not.

Safe parking allows the homeless who are living out of their vehicles a place to park overnight without the worry of being towed. 

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Those living in the sites are provided with a case manager who helps them find stable housing.

Executive Director of Mountain View Community Development and pastor Rick Russell says safe parking lots also make the surrounding area safer.

“Before safe parking, a lot of our locations had people coming in late at night. Maybe drinking on site, you know, they weren’t supposed to be there. But once you get the presence of people and security, that activity disappears.”

Russell says the county’s decision will help open new safe parking locations for those in need. Still, the challenge of finding willing property owners interested in providing those locations will remain. 

“One of the bottlenecks for us is finding locations. So we’re gonna try to reach out to property owners who might be interested in safe parking, and I would encourage property owners to reach out to us as well and open this program to more participants,” Russell said.

For Teresa Sherman, safe parking helped her navigate a life-changing experience.  

“There’s a lot of people who are homeless because of the choices they’ve made. And there’s people who don’t have a choice,” Sherman said.

Sherman was diagnosed with cancer six years ago. Soon after, she was left with nothing. She even lost her children.

“I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have money for means. I didn’t have housing. I lost everything. With being in this program, I was able to move from the dirt, go from not having my children to being able to move into a house with my kids and make dinner for them every night. It’s amazing what these people have done for my family,” Sherman said.

Russell says half of their safe parking residents are employed, while the other half are primarily elderly or disabled.

▶️ Mt. Bachelor re-opens to large crowds with stronger base, softer snow

To the delight of many skiers and snowboarders, Mt. Bachelor is once again open, and they hope to stay open this time for the season.

“It’s something I dream about and means everything to me,” Erik Needleman said. “I’ve been waiting all summer to go skiing again. An opening day last weekend, a little bit of disappointment, but we’re back out here having fun.”

Friday conditions were better than many expected.

“Surprisingly good… just fun to get back on the snow,” JD Sareault said. “Pretty soft, pretty fluffy, definitely a couple of sharks you got to watch out for.”

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The mountain staff are thrilled too, with more than a foot of snow at the base in the last 48 hours.

“The change in cold temps, the snowmaking that we have going, the foot or two of snow that we’ve gotten, it all points to a really positive direction,” Mt Bachelor’s Lauren Burke said. “We were able to have two lifts open this morning and are looking forward to expanding to rain in the upcoming week.”

Pine Marten Express is set to open on Saturday, and Mt Bachelor says they are working toward opening the Outback and Cloudchaser lifts soon.

That’s all good news if you plan on celebrating the season of your leaving responsibilities at a lower elevation.

“My girlfriend’s coming up here in a little bit, so she had to get out of work to come up here,” Needleman said. “It seems like everybody’s doing that today, too.”

Alpenglow, Early Riser and Red Chair are all on track to open next Friday. The new Skyliner Express 6-pack is on track to open before Christmas.

▶️ Prineville posts new Bend billboard, but makes fun of its ‘Prinevelle’ typo

Remember that sign along Highway 97 in Bend to promote tourism in Prineville, but it misspelled the name of the city? A corrected ad is now up, but the city is still poking fun at itself for the error.

The new sign reads “Prinevelle,” but with that word scribbled out. Then it says “Prineville: Eat, shop & play just 35 miles away.”

About a month ago, the billboard read “Explore Prinevelle” before people realized that the letter “i” was replaced with an “e.” If you didn’t take a close look, it was pretty easy to miss.

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RELATED: ‘Explore Prinevelle’ billboard typo may be tourism blessing in disguise

The City of Prineville partnered with businesses to buy the original ad. A lot of people had to approve it before it was placed along the busy highway.

“It was approved and moved forward, but I think what happened when the company moved it forward to the printer they sent the wrong file that was of a previous one that had not been accepted. Therefore, the spelling mishap was overlooked completely,” Prineville Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Jeff Fox told Central Oregon Daily News on Nov. 13.

Fox said then that the typo may be a blessing in disguise because of the attention it was getting online.

“I wish we could take credit for it being on purpose because sometimes, these are favorable mistakes to have,” Fox said.

The ad was replaced with a Smokey Bear ad later that day. But it appears the city decided it wanted to keep having fun with the typo.

High Desert Happenings: Dec. 8 – Dec. 10

It’s Friday! Which means we have another set of events going around the High Desert this weekend. 

Friday

Holiday Open House at Revival Vintage from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Boujee Bingo at the High Desert Music Hall from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Sno’d In Winter Party at Bend Brewing Company from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Saturday

Local Makers Holiday Market at Cascade Lakes Brewing Pub on Century from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Locavore Holiday Gift Faire at Unitarian Universalist Church from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Christmas in Powell Butte from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Also on Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) 

Sunday 

Sounds of the Season Concert performed by Redmond Community Choir at Redmond High School starting at 4:00 p.m.

Craft-O-Holiday Bazaar at The Workhouse in Bend 9:00 a.m. to  5:00 p.m. (Also on Saturday starting at 9:00 a.m.)

▶️ Bend awarding $1.2 million in block grants for affordable housing

$1.2 million from the City of Bend is going to block grants for developers who plan to create affordable housing.

The city says this year’s applicants are proposing a large number of affordable housing units

“We received six applications totaling 333 proposed units. So that’s really exciting,” said Mellissa Kamanya, City of Bend Affordable Housing Coordinator.

The applicants have to present their plans before the city’s affordable housing advisory committee, which will decide how the money is distributed.

The decision likely won’t be official until January.

RELATED: Bethlehem Inn Redmond announces plans for long-term transitional housing

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▶️ BPRD hosting annual Hollinshead Homestead open house Saturday

Saturday, the Hollinshead Homestead is hosting a holiday open house. You can learn what living in Bend back in the early 1900s was like.

The small museum will be all decorated for the season and ready for guests to walk through.

A woman who grew up on the homestead is giving the tours, and you will hear how different life in Bend was during that time.

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“A lot of folks who live in Bend today don’t know the history of our area, and that agriculture was a big part of Bend in the first part of the 1800s and early 1900s,” said Kim Johnson, community engagement supervisor, Bend Park and Rec. “We’ve evolved away from that now.”

The open house is from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Saturday. This free opportunity only happens once a year.

If you can’t make it, you can schedule a tour for another day through Bend Park and Recreation.

▶️ Quilters raise $23,000 for food insecurity through Bend Food Project

The Bend Food Project is giving $23,000 to The Giving Plate to address food insecurity for kids.

They raised the money by partnering with local quilters across Central Oregon, who donated more than 250 quilts for the cause.

Many who donated are already looking ahead.

>>> Have you checked out Central Oregon Daily News on YouTube? Click here to subscribe and share our videos.

RELATED: COCC students donate refurbished SUV to Meals on Wheels

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“The quilters are pretty excited about making more quilts, as that is what quilters like to do,” Quilter Sandra Henderson said. “Having it go to such an incredible cause makes it only that much better.”

Henderson says the partnership between Bend Food Project, The Giving Plate and quilters helps spread the word and feed kids, so that no one goes hungry.