Sisters, OR

Original photograph taken by Lisa Broadwater, Broker, GRI; RE/MAX Town & Country Realty, 178 S. Elm, Sisters, OR, 97759. 541-549-3333. All rights reserved and may not be reproduced or reprinted without express written permission For more images, visit http://www.centraloregonhome4you.com/.

Earlier this week -- just in time for the hallowed Sisters Rodeo weekend -- a towering new symbol for our fair city rode into town.

He's known as "The Wild Stallion," and he's the creation of renowned local artist Lorenzo Ghiglieri. Located in the center of town across the street from Lorenzo Fine Art, Ghiglieri's gallery on Highway 20 (aka Cascade Avenue), the Stallion is one of the first images that visitors encounter now as they travel through Sisters from the south.

Talk About Memorable First Impressions...
A spectacular 13-foot-plus bronze specimen of equine wonder, the Stallion has literally been stopping traffic for the past few days -- and traffic is sizable this weekend, what with both the rodeo and the Sisters Art in the Park event scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

One reason the new sculpture has been attracting so much attention is his fierce presence. Rearing high with his neck tucked, his muscles taut, his front legs in mid-strike and his impressive mane and tail flowing, he's impossible to miss. His powerhouse stance commands respect. In short, he does the town proud.

Ghiglieri donated the masterpiece to the city of Sisters, and has been recognized by the State as part of our Sesquicentennial celebration. And that's definitely worth a little celebrating. Indeed, the town owes Ghiglieri a big debt of gratitude; the Stallion is an exceptional symbol that even one-time visitors will remember long after they've left Central Oregon.

Adding to the drama this week has been the presence of another Ghiglieri creation, which is parked on a flatbed in front of the gallery just a stone's throw from the Stallion: a larger-than-life-size bronze sculpture of two bull elk clashing.

This is the closest that most folks will ever get to a pair of warring elk, and what an image it is! (See photo, right.) That dramatic frozen moment when the duo is caught in mid-dance is breathtaking, the sort that garners instinctive double-takes from virtually every passer-by.

All in all, a great addition to Sisters!

About the Author:
Lisa Broadwater is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Redmond and Bend. If you'd like to learn more about Central Oregon, please visit www.CentralOregonHome4You.com.

In May, the Sisters real estate market began to pick up a little steam, with the number of sales (contingent, pending and closed) up in both the Single Family Residence and Homes on Acreage markets. Pending sales saw the biggest increase, from three SFR pending sales in April to six in May and from two pending Homes on Acreage sales in April to four in May. Another encouraging sign: For the first time this year, there has been an increase in the number of sales above $300,000. Previously, both SFR listings and Homes on Acreage had only one or two sales above $300,000 per month.

Now, the not-so-good news for sellers: There is still way too much inventory. In fact, there was a sizable increase in inventory in SFR listings, from 180 in April to 198 in May. Homes on Acreage held steady at 80 listings.

Here are a few May highlights of the Sisters market:

LISTING ACTIVITY
Active Residential Listings in Sisters: 198 (118 Single Family Residences; 80 Residential with Acreage)
Contingent Residential Sales in Sisters: 5 (3 SFR, 2 RW)
Pending Residential Sales in Sisters: 10 (6 SFR; 4 RW)
Residential Sales in Sisters: 3 (2 SFR; 1 RW)
Average Days on Market: 181 days for Active SFR listings
237 days for Active RW listings
321 days for the SFR listings sold in May
122 days for the RW listing sold in May

Median Sales Price: $454,500 for Active SFR listings
$724,450 for Active RW listings
$295,000 for the SFR listings sold in May
$345,000 for the RW listing sold in May

INVENTORY
Single Family Residence: 24-month supply (58 sales in the previous 12 months)
Residential with Acreage: 42-month supply (23 sales in the previous 12 months)

SALES PRICE:
Least-Expensive Single Family Residence Active Listing: $169,990
Least-Expensive Residential with Acreage Active Listing: $199,900
Most-Expensive Single Family Residence Active Listing: $1,950,000
Most-Expensive Residential with Acreage Active Listing: $4,900,000
Price Point with the Most Active Listings: $550,000-$599,999 in SFR (14 listings)
$1,000,000-$1,249,999 in RW (9 listings)

If you're interested in studying the market in more depth, here are a number of charts that capture various aspects of the March 2009 Sisters real estate market in detail.

About the Author:
Lisa Broadwater is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Redmond and Bend. If you'd like to learn more about Central Oregon, please visit www.CentralOregonHome4You.com.

The festival season in Sisters --always packed with entertaining cultural events -- launches this weekend with a new event that sounds like a real hoot: the first annual Ranch Life & Rodeo show.

Designed to honor the town's rich Western heritage, the event is packed with out-of-the-ordinary activities. Perhaps most notably, in celebration of Oregon's 150^th birthday, the Deschutes Historical Society is re-enacting an old-fashioned stagecoach ride between Bend and Sisters (the stage leaves from Sisters today and will return from Bend on Saturday (it's expected to arrive around 4 p.m.)

On a similar note, Jenny and Jerry Andres, owners of Sisters View Clydesdales, will offer free stagecoach rides from the Sisters Chamber of Commerce (291 E. Main) to Sisters Art Works (204 W. Adams) and back from noon-4 p.m.

For those who prefer smaller four-legged friends, Joanne Shook from Buck Haven Llama Farm is bringing her llamas to town (sorry, I don't have the details on that).

Artistic Options
Meanwhile, the Sisters arts community is pulling out all the stops. First, Sisters Art Works hosts a meet-the-artists reception from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., including Western artist/singer-songwriter Dyrk Godby. A onetime professional rodeo competitor, Godby will also be singing at various times during the day.

Noted naturalist sculptor Skip Armstrong demonstrates his chainsaw sculpture at noon, followed by Jeff Wester of Ponderosa Forge demonstrating his blacksmithing skills and horseshoeing technique at 2 p.m. And Jill Stanford, author of The Cowgirl Cookbook, will provide food samples (and chuckwagon food and cowboy coffee will be available to purchase all day).

Cowgirls of the West Living History, a local group of women dedicated in preserving cowgirl history from the 1900s-‘60s, will also be on hand at the Sisters Art Works building. They'll provide historical education about notable female rodeo competitors, Wild West performers, vaudeville performers and such (including Lucille Mulhall, Vera McGinnis, Prairie Rose Henderson and Dale Evans).

High Desert Gallery (281 W. Cascade Ave.) is hosting "West of West, A Celebration of Ranch Life" exhibit, with an artist's reception featuring refreshments and live music from 4-7 p.m.

Eating, Drinking and Merry-Making
Throughout the day, area restaurants will duke it out in a "Best Beef" Contest. Competing restaurants are creating a special beef dish to be judged for a panel of local Realtors; prizes will be awarded to the winners. Participants -- including Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill & Saloon, Aspen Lakes' Brand 33 Restaurant, The Gallery, Coyote Creek Cafe, Suttle Lake's Boathouse Restaurant, Ski Inn, Soji Noodle & Rice, Scoots Bar & Grill, Three Creeks Brewing Co., Martolli's Pizza, Papandrea's Pizzeria and Ken's Old Fashion Pizza -- have been asked to somehow include the dish on the menu during the celebration.

Bronco Billy's will also host a performance/class of line/square dancing by Jessica Yankey (manager/trainer at Emerald Ranch) from 4 to 6 p.m. Jessica will be calling and clogging; spectators will be encouraged to dance along with her.

Also from 4 to 6 p.m., COYO will perform its ancient Native American melodies behind Don Terra Artworks (222 W Hood). A beer garden will be open during the performance (actually from 3 to 7 p.m.), courtesy of Three Creeks Brewing Co.

And finally, for a 6 p.m. musical celebration at the Sisters Art Works building, Charley Engel (host of 106.7 KPOV's radio show "Calling All Cowboys") has gathered several cowboy poets and musicians, including The Anvil Blasters, Rick Steber, John Grant and the Western Revue, Don Worthing, and Big Pine and Pitchtones.($10 suggested donation.)

One last thing: This is a new event, organized by several resources, so some of the information provided here may not be accurate (in other words, if the time or location I've listed regarding a particular event within the show is inaccurate, I apologize! It's a work in progress...)

Lisa Broadwater is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Redmond and Bend. If you'd like to learn more about Central Oregon, please visit www.CentralOregonHome4You.com.

Much has been made recently about the struggles of the downtown Sisters business community. Last year, the town was classified a "severely distressed community" by the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department, which arrived at the designation after analyzing data in four areas: percentage of the population with a bachelor's degree age 25 or higher; unemployment rate (any community above 8 percent is considered "distressed); percentage of the population below poverty; and per-capita income. Sisters qualified for the moniker in all four areas, making it "severely" distressed, as opposed to simply "distressed."

This year, the rest of Deschutes County joined Sisters in receiving the "distressed" classification, after countywide unemployment more than doubled, from 6.7 to 14.7 percent. (Check out how the rest of the state fared this year here.)

The New Guy in Town
So, having said all that, it's nice to be able report some good news involving a downtown business: Yesterday marked the grand opening of Slick's Que Co., a new family-friendly restaurant on Main Street (well, Cascade Avenue). The official ribbon-cutting was at 10 a.m.; I stopped by on my way to an appointment to check it out at about 11:30, and was pleased to see that the place was already doing a pretty brisk business.

The downhome-style barbecue joint is the brainchild of barbecue aficionado Roy Slicker, who's no newcomer to the ultra-competitive barbecue world (he's vice president-Northwest Region of the National Barbecue Association); he owns Slick's with his wife, Kim, along with Vicki Zahler. Thursday, I spotted Roy mingling tableside with the patrons (that's him in the cowboy hat in the photo below).

Today, I went back to pick up a pulled-pork sandwich and found Roy slicing brisket behind the counter (see photo below). I was pleasantly surprised with my sandwich. I'm from the South -- Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee by way of Mississippi, to be exact -- so I'm no ‘cue rookie myself. I would, however, like to see a little more pork and a little less bun; and down the road, it would be nice if there was more than one sauce to choose from. All in all, though, Slick's is a very welcome addition to the scene. Great vibes here.

The restaurant's casual ambiance combines the practical (self-serve line service, picnic-table seating) with the quirky (eclectic cowboy memorabilia, corrugated-metal siding, license-plate-covered columns).There are both eat-in and takeout BBQ options (sandwiches, plates, lunch and dinner kits). All the rubs, salts and sauces are made by Slick's, and its meats (pork, brisket, sausage and turkey) are slow-smoked up to 18 hours in an authentic BBQ pit smoker. Sides (baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad) are prepared fresh daily.

Slick's is open Thursday-Sunday from 11 a.m. until they run out (Roy prepares just enough smoked meats for the next day). 240 E Cascade; (541) 719-0580. Only cash or checks are accepted (but there's an ATM located inside the restaurant).

Good luck, guys!

About the Author:
Lisa Broadwater is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Redmond and Bend. If you'd like to learn more about Central Oregon, please visit www.CentralOregonHome4You.com.