For the audience It's a quality performance. I don't think…read moreyou will be disappointed in the caliber of these kids. $15 per ticket for adults, $10 for 18 and under. It's a little pricey for a local children's performance, but meanwhile, pretty darn good show. For the actors It's a BIG time commitment. Four days a week, three hours each rehearsal. Three school nights and one weekend day. The environment is so chaotic that I don't think it's reasonable to expect to get any homework done. And pack dinner for yourself. For my daughter, it was a great getting to know all the other kids and forming friendships. It's a very supportive community. She will miss the friends she has made. For the parents Be prepared, this is one of the most disorganized and unprofessional groups I've ever been involved with. Communication is poor, spotty and forget about contacting them via email or phone, I reached out five times in five months (twice in response to emails they sent me) - nothing back, from any of them. My suggestion is to be at every rehearsal in order to ensure you get all the information you need. It's a chaotic environment, I get that, but a chaotic environment that the kids don't even enjoy. Very specific rehearsal schedule with my daughter often coming home that night to say that was not what they rehearsed and that she did nothing performance related for three hours. Pretty frustrating as an actor and a parent. And I do realize that trying to get a large group of kids organized has got to be pretty darn challenging. I totally recognize that what's not great for parents is often wonderful for kids. It wasn't until the last month of rehearsals that my daughter began to enjoy herself, meanwhile that means four months of her dreading it each night. A co-worker of mine had her son working the performance on the tech side. He's student at Summit High School and reported to his mom that the BEAT director was not nice to the Summit staff. The co-worker told me this unsolicited, I hadn't even mentioned my daughter's involvement with BEAT. Other than that, seemingly nice enough people. Just......wow, just need to get it together on the admin side. Pack a snack for your kiddo, it's going to be a long season.

I saved this one for my 100th review…read more Alright peoples, it's time to get a little class. I know, I know, a lot of you don't think that classical music is that cool. You owe it to yourselves to give the Symphony a try. It may very well change your mind. The Central Oregon Symphony is well worth going to see. The concerts are free. The musicians are incredible. It's amazing how much musical talent we have here in Central Oregon. They won't make you feel like you're at some stuffy fruu fruu la-dee-da concert with the Queen of England. The conductor, the musicians and the audience are your neighbors. So don't be a bum. Give them a try. Check them out at www.cosymphony.com

McMenamins theaters tend to be small, clean, intimate places, filled with couches and comfy chairs,…read moreambient mood lighting, and a full-service bar. All that together is enough to blow any Regal Cinemas out of the water already. Their prices for everything, from tickets to concessions and even food and cocktails are also so much cheaper than any major theater chain, I'm not sure why you would come see a movie anywhere else. My only thought would be capacity, which is further reduced by social distancing requirements during this pandemic. Still, it's hard to beat, and we were lucky enough to grab a couple tickets to see our first movie in a theater in more than a year. And while I was nowhere near as excited to see "Tom and Jerry" as my wife was, it was still a very relaxing, enjoyable time. I forgot how much I have missed that communal theater experience. If you find yourself yearning to relive that experience yourself, you're not going to find a better place to do it than at a McMenamins theater, and the Old St. Francis theater is among the best.

At old St Francis Theater you are already in the amazing McMenamins property. You pay four bucks…read morefor a movie. You order food and drinks and find a seat in one of the love seats. They bring the food to your seat. Did I mention four bucks? That to see the latest Star Wars movie? Such a deal!

TWB stands for Theatre with (Beer &/or Balls) according to the header on their Mission Statement…read more That alone might suggest what you're in for if you attend a TWB production! Our first experience with TWB was last night when we attended a performance of their production of the Louis LaRusso play "Lamppost Reunion". We were fans of the skill of the acting company, a really talented group of local men (in this case, an all male cast) and well staged and directed for this single set, three act play. We think the actors were, frankly, better than the material provided through the play's script. But we were glad to have discovered TWB and wanted to pass along the "heads up" to others. (In particular since one of the talented actors who spoke with us after the performance urged us and the friends we were with to "tell your friends". Yelp friends first! :-) ) You can find more information about the run of Lamppost Reunion at the TWB Productions web site as well as more about the troupe and their mission of "cultivating a new audience" for live theater performance. Note that the theme of the current play is adult and the Hoboken Bar circa 1950 something (?) setting has language that some may find off putting. Frankly, we've long been live theater fans from our days in NY and SF and all stops in between. So no need to convince us of the fun of live theater. But had we known more about the play we probably would not have attended this production. And that would have been too bad as we enjoyed seeing these good actors at their craft. As for the current play, Lamppost Reunion, we're not prudes, one Brooklyn NY born and raised and both with experience living in NJ :-), but two plus hours of a script heavy on scatological references, jokes about penis size and the f-word isn't our thing. No doubt a bunch of drunk men at a Hoboken bar may have used all of those things in a two hour discourse to reslolve long standing interpersonal issues, but we wouldn't have wanted to sit through it in the bar either. Whether or not their next production choice will fit better with our preferences for attending we don't know. In the meantime, if the language and theme of the play aren't barriers for you...this is a fun and talented group of actors to watch. The current production is on a schedule of two nights a week and staged at the McMenamin's St. Francis school in one of the rooms next to the theater there. Open for seating an hour before "curtain", food and beverages are available before and during the production. Although one eats the food at McMenamin's at their own peril! We had happy hour dinner elsewhere before the show and beverages during. And it's worth noting that the McMenamins servers were VERY professional and did a great job of staying "under the radar" so as not to interfere with viewing the play even as they served during it.

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.

I was initially skeptical because the reviews are high but no recent ones. We were visiting…read moreSunriver and were looking for an indoor activity, so gave the number a call. Spoke to a gentleman who was very helpful and informative, and I was able to get a vr slot for the next day. 2 elementary aged and 1 adult all had a blast!! It was our first time doing vr, and it felt very real, like you were in the game, although there was a learning curve. It's a week later, and my kids keep asking to do vr again. Highly recommend if you're in the Sunriver area! I recommend calling first to make an appointment.

OK, this place was incredibly fun…read more This is my first virtual reality gaming experience. As part of the big brother little brother program I took my 12-year-old little brother here for our weekly outing. I am not into digital games at all. But after a warm welcome from the owners daughter and 10 minutes of training I found myself transported into virtual worlds that felt amazingly real and dynamic. Our one hour went by quickly as we defended our area from robots or went sightseeing in the beautiful Arizona desert, of course, avoiding the annoying and unattractive zombies! All I can say to sum up is that it way exceeded my expectations for experiencing a virtual world, was much more fun than this non-gamer expected, and was a business that was a pleasure to deal with. Super friendly and helpful. You do need to call to arrange your session, but that was effortless. We'll be back. (Robot talk.) John

Great spot. You pay for the time you want to spend there, and then all the games are free-play…read more There's a foosball table upstairs and an abundance of old school arcade cabinets, focusing on the classics of the 80s and early 90s. The Simpsons, NBA Jam, TMNT, Street Fighter 2, Dr Mario, Double Dragon, Track and Field, PAC Man, Frogger, etc. It's more of family friendly environment, so no Mortal Kombat or Area 51. And no pinball, which is understandable as maintenance costs are higher for those. A great place to kill an hour with a friend or kid.

Great place to play a bit on fun retro video games for some time before dinner at Sunriver Village!…read more The video games take me back to the favorites of the 80/90s game scene and love sharing it with my kids! Definitely recommend for some fun family time activity - we get a 30 min pass card and it is the perfect amount of time :)

This is a wine and paint night venue. They serve wine & beer. They have great teachers that help…read moreyou paint incredible pictures on a canvas. Step by step instruction that allows a novice to create paintings that you can hang on a wall in your home! They provide you everything you need! Great music, fun instruction! Come here with a group of friends! $10 off coupon in the Smart Shopper! I had a fabulous time! Thinking this would be a great place for a work function or with a group of friends! They have pictures of bridal parties and bachelorette parties. Kids are welcome too if you want to make it a parent child event! Incredibly kind and fun owner! I am sure I will be back!