The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The big white tent that has taken up residence throughout September in the Sisters Village Green Park now is in the hands of CATS (Community Action Team of Sisters).

On Thursday, September 26, the Sisters City Council voted to disburse $2,000 to CATS to help defray the cost of the community tent.

The money had already been approved.

"It's only a part of the cost of the tent," City Administrator Eileen Stein noted. "The Forest Service was going to give $7,500, but with all the forest fires they've had to fight, they ran out of money."

The bulk of the funding for the tent came from grants by the Nike Foundation and Cycle Oregon.

"The cost of the tent and trailer that it's stored in is about $30,000," CATS Community Advocate Lorri Craig said. "The Chamber has already given us $2,500.

"We are using it to generate income for us," Craig continued. "We want to build social capital. We rent it out for discounts to non-profit organizations that benefit the community in some way.

"For example, the Jazz Festival sends musicians to the schools and serves an educational purpose. They also give free performances with the Sunday morning Gospel Concerts, so they qualified for the discount.

"We also rent it out for weddings and other functions," Craig said. "For these purposes, the rental rate will be higher, but it is still cheaper than the going commercial rate. Also, we can set it up in four different sizes and make it smaller, so it doesn't have to be the huge size that you see for some of these activities."

With the special September activities that were scheduled in Sisters (the Sisters Folk Festival, the Sisters Jazz Festival, Sisters in Sisters), the community tent has been a fixture in the Village Green Park.

"We hope to get ten years of use from it," Craig said. "That's what we have built into the cost of the rental."