The Nugget
Vol. XLIII No. 16
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
COVID-19
shuts down
Sisters
Rodeo
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Sign of the times…
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
The Biggest Little Show
in the World is standing down
this year, due to the COVID-
19 pandemic.
Sisters Rodeo President
Curt Kallberg told The
Nugget on Wednesday, April
8, that the Rodeo Board of
Directors made the difficult
call to cancel the 2020 rodeo
by a unanimous decision at a
meeting Tuesday night, April
7.
<It was a terrible decision
Even the horses that welcome folks to Sisters are observing their pandemic protocols —
although they might need to work on their interval. A little bit of wry humor has brought a
smile to quite a few travelers who pass the iconic sculpture on the Lazy Z.
See RODEO on page 22
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
Sisters schools empty until fall
City discouraging
visitors during pandemic
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Sisters usually throws
out a welcome mat for visi-
tors 4 but in the midst of the
COVID-19 pandemic, that
welcome mat is being pulled.
The City of Sisters is
releasing an administrative
order strongly discouraging
visitors from coming to town
4 the same kind of order
already issued at the Oregon
coast, the Columbia Gorge,
and in the City of Bend. It
will be in effect through
May 15.
The order will be sent to
all short-term rental property
permit holders. Most hotels/
motels are already totally
closed or only making a few
rooms available for essential
personnel and workers tempo-
rarily here who need lodging.
See VISITORS on page 22
As parents and students
lined up in their cars to
pick up materials at Sisters
Elementary School last
Friday, the sadness was
palpable. The reality of
school being shut and dis-
tance learning being put in
place really began to sink
in following Governor Kate
Brown9s announcement on
Wednesday, April 8, to close
schools for the remainder of
the year.
Sisters School District
staff worked all throughout
last week to make contact
with students and families
via phone calls and emails
in order to begin the transi-
tion to distance learning,
and once Brown made the
announcement Wednesday
school staff faced head-on a
challenging and emotional
reality.
Elementary Principal
Joan Warburg acknowledged
the emotional aspect of the
abrupt change.
<There were many tears
and a lot of grieving as our
team realized there would
be no community again with
their classes in the building,=
she said. <Education is pri-
marily about relationships,
and the loss of those daily
connections has been felt by
students, parents and staff
alike. The parent and stu-
dent connections this week
via phone call and on Friday
during materials pick up
were wonderfully affirming
and helped all of us begin the
rebuilding process. We are
looking forward to the time
when we can all come back
together once again.=
High on the list of ques-
tions Governor Brown
addressed in her announce-
ment was the status of seniors
in high school. According
See SCHOOLS on page 19
Operation Inspire
steps up to help
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
When St. Charles Health
System put out a call for
10,000 masks to protect med-
ical personnel as the COVID-
19 outbreak ramped up, Wes
Fisher of Credit Associates in
Bend answered.
<One of the people who
works for me& they own
a garment business here
in town,= Fisher told The
Inside...
Nugget. <I hooked up with
them to do 2,000 masks.=
The masks are cut and
sewn to meet St. Charles9
specs.
Luan Pham, chief revenue
and marketing officer for
Laird Superfood in Sisters
knows Fisher and he got wind
of the project 4 and Laird
jumped in with a commit-
ment to produce an additional
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
See INSPIRE on page 14
Teachers showed their spirit to parents and students in Sisters.
Letters/Weather ............... 2 Sisters Naturalist .............. 8 Sisters Country Birds .......14 Sudoku ............................18 Classifieds ................. 20-21
Meetings .......................... 3 Announcements ...............10 Stars over Sisters ............16 Crossword .......................19 Real Estate ................ 22-24