I feel like Jill has made cards just for me. Fun whimsical cards for social women of the world…read moretoday. I gave her "Women of Chemo" card to one of my friends with cancer and she loved it. Lastly, I am a real life "Wine Diva" If you have ever seen a picture of me, I could be the subject of her art. Thanks so much Jill!

From the owner: Jill Neal Gallery knows that we need more free spirited women in our lives, frolicking in the…read moremoonlight with martinis and cigars in their hands for every kind of celebration. Art and gifts for women mean joyous free spirits, fun events, and plenty of giggles with girlfriends. The world needs more women like this, and definitely more good times! Jill Neal art makes and creates perfect gifts for women. Check out our greeting cards, coaster sets, fabrics, mugs, plate sets, tapas, giclee prints, lithographic prints, and our limited edition prints that make great gifts for women or for any woman in your life. So raise a glass and joyfully toast the world with Jill Neal Art and Gallery. www.jillnealgallery.com

The food here was very basic but very good. The atmosphere was very relaxed and I can't wait to get…read moreto stay here one day.

The Suttle Lodge hosts a great annual beer festival every year during winter. With dozens of…read moreparticipating breweries, plus ciders and some local spirits, it's become a must-go beer festival in the area, an area which has a lot of beer festivals. I believe it's been running maybe five or six years, taking a break during the height of covid. This was my first time attending. Running three days in late February, the price of admission gets you a cool mug (with a travel lid) with which to sample beers dispensed at six cabins set aside for the festivals. They had lots of variety too from dark lagers to IPAs to high alcohol barrel beers. Unlike some of the larger festivals, there aren't huge crowds so it's a simple matter to mosey up to a cabin and get a 3 oz pour. While enjoying the beers, you could stand around one of the many wood fire pits. Given the temperature this year (about 15F on Friday) that was almost not optional. VIP ticket holders had access to a seventh cabin that you could go inside plus an upstairs room in the lodge serving spirits. Food was available at a large, heated tent outside but you could also go into the lodge and order from their kitchen (burgers, sandwiches, etc). Unlike some of the bigger more established beer festivals in the area, such as the Bend Brewfest, the Suttle festival is an afternoon only affair, shutting down at 5PM each of the three days. The festival supports the Central Oregon Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for children. A portion of ticket proceeds and money from swag sales goes to that. Recommended if you're a beer enthusiast.

I had a sweet solo experience here for dinner and a movie. I was staying next door at Five Pines so…read moreit was too easy to grab dinner and a movie. I thoroughly enjoyed Paddington and ordered their veggie pesto bowl $14 with a small bag of popcorn. The staff was incredibly friendly and welcoming and the theatre room was very clean. The small veggie rice pesto now was a little pricey for $14. The popcorn was delicious and the small bag was perfect. The only thing that seemed a little off was the flavor of the water- maybe that's the taste of Oregon water but it was tough to swallow... Overall, a charming and lively local theatre experience.

We are not movie people. So, when a movie caught our fancy, we looked for a theater and were…read moredisappointed by things like assigned seating. Then I found Sisters Movie House and Cafe. I was correct in assuming that a mid-week matinee would be a good time to go. The people at the counter were friendly and helpful. We bought too much popcorn and upgraded our tickets to Club Level seats. I do recommend Club Level seats. A man, that I assumed to be the owner, talked briefly about the movie, introduced us to the house dog, and warned us to protect our popcorn from the dog. Maybe I will start paying more attention to movies and return to Sisters Movie House. BTW, the cafe looked interesting.

Great music, rad weekend! Nice variety of food trucks, beer taps and bands! Really loved the laid…read moreback atmosphere. Stoked to see what next year has in store.

I waited 1 hour past since when I was supposed to open. Terrible service. I waited 1 hour past…read moresince when I was supposed to open. Terrible service.

Once a year juried art show held in Bend in the grassy park adjacent to the Deschutes River at the…read moreOld Mill District. If you're in Bend with time on your hands this weekend, even if it Is a grayish cool weekend, walking through the art show to see all of the artists' work and be able to "judge for yourself" is great fun. In particular since you will have a chance to talk with the artists to learn how they create their beautiful work...from woven art, to etchings, to jewelry to ceramic art, to glass art to watercolor's, to oils, to metal work to the most amazing display of glass and metal "whirlygigs". See photos added for context. Our fav this year was a Eugene based ceramic artist's work...but we neglected to take a photo of her booth to display it here. (You can likely find more at her website: Betsy Wolfston - Woof Works Studio - www.betsywolfston.com.) Art is for sale too. We didn't make any purchases this year though...but last year we ended up with a couple of treasures to add to our home collection. Runs through 4pm Sunday (Sunday hours 10 - 4) and is open until 6p Saturday. When you're done enjoying the art wonders, walk across the footbridge to the plaza at the shops at the Old Mill where there is music from local high school bands, among others, food vendor stands and merriment. Not to mention the spectacular setting on the Deschutes River. If you missed it this year, check our the non profit's web site (at the top of the Yelp page) for next year's dates. NOTES: The event parking at the lot adjacent to the site fails both state codes and ADA minimums for accessible parking. Several folks we met at the event yesterday, using canes and on crutches, weren't feeling good about that...so if you need accessible parking, you'll want to know in advance that this site does not meet the minimum requirements of twenty year old access standards. .

I don't have much to add beyond what Michele R wrote nine years ago. Her review of Art in the High…read moreDesert is comprehensive and informative (as are pretty much all her reviews). So I'm just adding a star rating. I'll give it a 4 due to the greater array of art and craft vendors beyond what you might see at one of the many local street festivals.

I had a lot of fun at this faire! Loved the setting with plenty of tall trees and dappled shade -…read morereally helped in the hot weather. There was a huge variety of vendors with high quality goods, and plenty of options for foods and drinks. There were free water-refill spots to help everyone stay hydrated and keep those reusable water bottles full! I caught several shows, a bit of music, and sat and admired all the incredible costumes of the staff / vendors and the other guests. There were archery lessons, a blacksmith with a forge, several vendors with beautiful swords, and so much more! They had a booth with a game for kids to catch "rats" throughout the faire - I didn't catch the details, but the kids were clearly having a ton of fun with this. I arrived shortly before the gates opened and was happy to see plenty of parking, and plenty of staff on hand to direct vehicles (sounds like this is an improvement from last year). I would happily make this drive again, it was very enjoyable.

Not a Ren Faire - something maybe for children - pretty much sucked. Jousting was good. Vendors…read morewere meh

Tons of food trucks. Unfortunately, of the three we tried, all supplied us with mediocre food. Bend…read moreis food truck crazy but I'm forming the opinion that very few trucks actually deliver good product. I was pleased to see Island Noodles, however. I'm a fan from my Atlanta days. Not many non-food vendors on Friday. It seemed a few more opened their tents on Saturday. Music stage at the end of Minnesota but with very few places to sit and enjoy the tunes. I was a bit disappointed there. In general, the festival has too few seats and definitely too few high-top tables (people gotta eat their food truck food somewhere). Serious lack of garbage bins on Friday. For starters, every food truck should have one in front and the festival should provide bins at each corner. By that, I mean the intersection of Minnesota and Bond should have four bins. On Saturday, I saw quite a few more bins. Dogs everywhere, despite being against city ordinance. We wanted to bring our dog but were deterred by the law. So which is it? Dogs allowed or not? Only one beer vendor (Deschutes), which just doesn't seem right for Bend. Fortunately, Deschutes Brewing makes killer beer. All in all, an OK food festival. We didn't partake in the various competition events so maybe it wasn't aimed at us. The festival shared Saturday with the Bend Beers Bands & Public Lands event in Drake park. I thought that festival, though smaller with only two food trucks, was a better experience.

Such a fun way to experience Bend and its local restaurants…read more This week was Bend's 11th Annual Food Festival and it was a nice mix of local food, drink and entertainment. Food booths stretched for several blocks down Bond Street with Minnesota Avenue housing Locavore Alley and the Top Chef Stage on one side of Bond and the NW Spirits and Mixology Show on the other side. Oregon Street housed the Main Stage with various local music acts and Food Cart Row. We caught the semi-finals of the Top Chef competition with the chefs at Black Butte Ranch triumphing over Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe. Many food booths offered small bites for around $2 and full plates for more. A couple of Bend's nicer restaurants were represented (Zydeco), but there was plenty of street fare (foot long corn dogs and chocolate dipped bananas). I've been less than impressed by the Bite of Portland. This was just a well organized event with a week's worth of special events around town leading up to the main weekend event. A beer run was also held, so a great blend of health and abundance in Central Oregon.

Excellent job taking on this event and hosting the world at the total solar eclipse in Madras. All…read morestaff and volunteers as well as public safety members were awesome and great representatives of this town. Thanks for making our visit memorable.

Hard to give a single rating for this. Totality and the minutes leading up to it, extraordinary…read morelife experience. BUT, we were crammed into a 15x15 patch of grass for a campsite, which also included your vehicle. Flat rate of $150 for 5 nights. My Cherokee and tent almost filled the entire spot, only a few feet from neighbors. Everyone I saw and met were wonderful people, all here from long distances to have a life changing experience. But there were no markings on the "streets", hard to see at night which one is yours. Only 6 outhouses nearby, with long lines, scant toilet paper, and nearly filled on Monday. Heaps of garbage bags, essentially no garbage containers. Non-potable water was $1 PER GALLON, complete ripoff. No place to dump your grey water. No shade. Shower trailers such a long walk that I did not bathe for the 2 nights I stayed. Significantly, I never used my shuttle pass, both times on Sunday the buses either never appeared, or we were told "shuttles are cancelled, go back to camp." Could never use my Festival ticket. T shirt I ordered online weeks ago never arrived. Though they did charge my credit card. Food stands in the grass area were pretty good, hot air balloon rides (tethered) looked fun. Had heard the Festival itself was small and overrated. They charged $50 EACH for passes to the "kid's" area, which was also apparently not worth it. Madras ppl were very nice, but the venue was not well run. Well worth doing, but I felt taken advantage of, charged a lot for rather little. Some of the above are observations, not entirely complaints. Not sure how anyone could manage an event of such uncertain parameters.