Sisters craftsmen build solar
system masterpieces page 4
SAR lifts climbers off
Sisters mountains page 9
Black Butte Ranch
welcomes new CEO page 10
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 33
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Solar eclipse will roll across Sisters
By Grace Maiden Correspondent
The Great American Eclipse of 2017 will
move across Sisters Country on Monday,
August 21. The moon’s shadow will
cut a 70-mile-wide swath of totality
across the country from Oregon to
South Carolina. Viewers within the
path will see the moon completely
cover the sun to reveal the sun’s
beautiful, tenuous atmosphere,
called the corona.
The sun’s corona and reddish-colored
prominences are clearly displayed in this picture of a
total solar eclipse taken in 1999. A similar sight awaits
residents of Sisters — which will receive about 30 seconds
of totality on August 21. PHOTO BY LUC VIATOUR /WWW.LUCNIX.BE
See ECLIPSE on page 30
Campfire
ban in
place for
forest
With increased fire activ-
ity and an influx of visitors
coming to Central Oregon
for the solar eclipse, pub-
lic land managers for the
Bureau of Land Management,
Deschutes and Ochoco
national forests and Crooked
River National Grassland
will implement a ban on open
campfires and Industrial Fire
Precaution Level 4 on Friday.
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on
August 11, campfires, includ-
ing charcoal and pellet fires,
will no longer be allowed on
public lands. This is a change
from the implementation
of Public Use Restrictions
on July 18, which limited
campfires to designated
See CAMPFIRE BAN on page 23
Fires break out in
Sisters Country
Fair serves up old-fashioned fun
After enduring many days
of heavy smoke inunda-
tion from fires as far away
as British Columbia, Sisters
Country got hit with some
fires of our own, sparked by
lightning that moved through
the region last week.
Firefighters have the
upper hand on the Whychus
Fire eight miles northeast
of Sisters — after a hectic
Sunday afternoon in which
the 34-acre fire, driven by
stiff winds, jumped contain-
ment lines and took a swift
and massive run to the east,
covering two-and-a-half miles
in just a couple of hours.
The blaze approached
inhabited areas along Lower
Bridge Road, and a portion
of the area was put under a
Every summer Sisters
Episcopal Church of the
Transfiguration hosts its tra-
ditional small-town country
fair, a crowd favorite, and
last weekend marked its 22nd
year. Folks rolled in from all
around the region for some
good old-fashioned fun.
The smoky air didn’t deter
folks from lining up at the
Sweet Tooth Booth waiting
for a piece of Ann Reed’s deli-
cious marionberry cobbler.
Volunteers Ann Reed and
Vickie Babbitt served up
the cobbler early Saturday
morning.
“We already emptied two
pans out of the 15 made,”
Babbitt exclaimed.
It was over 22 years ago
that the mouthwatering recipe
Inside...
Level 2 evacuation notice, as
air tankers made water and
retardant drops to quell the
advancing blaze.
A calm day on Sunday
helped get things in hand and
the fire was winding down as
of Monday. It had, however,
grown to 2,030 acres.
A fire on Black Crater
known as the Milli Fire is
expected to ramp up. As of
Monday, it was at 150 acres
and is 2 percent contained.
There are many safety haz-
ards affecting firefighters’
ability to attack the blaze.
This fire is currently eight
miles west of Sisters and
about one-and-a-half miles
southwest of Black Crater
See FIRE on page 29
By Jodi Schneider McNamee
Correspondent
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Two-year-old Michael Alexis Gauthier enjoyed the petting zoo at the annual
Country Fair at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.
for the marionberry cobbler
was perfected by the late Edie
Larsen.
“We used to sell it at the
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show
before the Country Fair,”
See COUNTRY FAIR on page 28
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ....................... 10 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Bunkhouse Chronicle ........21 Classifieds .................. 25-27
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Sisters Naturalist ............. 14 Crossword ....................... 24 Real Estate ................. 27-32