The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

• Food flight

Philadelphia Steaks & Hoagies has exited leased space at 273 E. Hood Ave. and moved catacorner to its newly constructed site giving them twice the seating capacity. There will be streetside patio dining as well as year-round inside seating.

Taking their place at the original setting is Luckey's Woodsman Off-Grid Provisions, a food truck operator in Bend best known for their Camper Kits with menu items like Forager, Camp Mac, Sasquash, and Lumber Jack Bowls.

Spoons moved from their tight space at 281 W. Cascade Ave. to larger quarters at 473 E. Hood Ave. formerly occupied by Bimbap Asian Kitchen.

• About those studded tires

You can still hear them around town a full six weeks after their March 31 remove-by date. This is a Class C traffic violation that carries a $165 fine. Oregon officials estimate damage to roads from studded tires at $8.5 million per year.

• Campgrounds full

Already Creekside Campground, run by the City, has limited choices for the 60-space facility. Some categories of campers will find few available dates especially on the weekends. As expected there are no spaces whatsoever for the Memorial Day weekend or the Rodeo.

Nearby Forest Service campgrounds like Cold Springs are seeing a surge of campers.

• Fire District awarded $72,000 grant

Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District is the recipient of a $72,000 grant from the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office. The competitive grant is aimed at improving community wildfire resiliency.

• Housing market nosedives

There were only 20 homes that sold in April in Sisters Country, totaling $15.1 million, as compared to 39 in April of 2022 for an aggregate of $29.7 million. While last April saw a whopping 20 homes sell for more than $1 million, only three topped the seven- figure mark last month. Median prices continue to top $700,000, well above the price for so-called affordable housing.

• Commercial real estate takes shape

80,000 square feet of commercial real estate finished in April or will in two weeks, and tenants are beginning to move in. The 14,000-square-foot-plus, class A building at North Pine and Barclay was leased to Temco Logistics of Pomona, California.

Temco is a leading white-glove solutions provider delivering and installing home goods since 1968. The company has fulfilled millions of residential and commercial deliveries for some of America's largest retailers.

• Recruit academy

Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District is midway through one of its 10-week training academies. Four men and four women ranging in ages from early 20s to mid-30s enrolled in this Academy are schooled in firefighting and emergency medical response Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 9:30 and Saturdays from 8:00 to 5:00.

Trainees are a mix of those wishing to volunteer for the roles and those seeking employment in the profession.

• Smoke gets in your eyes

Friday was another prescribed burn day for the Forest Service as they lit 128 acres directly across from Sisters High School on Highway 242 between Edgington Road and Forest Service Road 15. Smoke drifted into town but dissipated as winds shifted. Smoke from smoldering piles made for an eerie start to Saturday morning. Like Friday, it gave way to mostly clear skies.

Media and elected officials including Commissioner Phil Chang and Mayor Michael Preedin were on hand to learn more about how wildfires burn.

• Mushroom season underway

A benefit to forest fires is that the burned areas are ideal for finding cherished morels. Look on east- facing slopes. The highly prized and expensive ($40/pound) morels can be found in moist, shadowy areas, so they can be difficult to find even when you're a few feet away. Look at the base of trees, near tree stumps, and underneath ferns and brush.

Just west of Camp Sherman is ground zero for commercial harvesters.

• Aviators drop into Sisters

Eagle Airport was the scene last weekend of four airplanes that descended onto the airport for a weekend of air camping. Tents nestled under wings in ideal weather.

The airport also hosted two AirCam experimental aircraft. It's rare to see one, much less two parked side by side. They are twin engine (reverse mounted), open cockpit design.

They are remarkably quiet and can fly as low as 55 mph, taking off in less than 100 feet and landing in under 500 feet.