Business

The Portland Spoon Company

Russell Clark of the Portland Spoon Company uses tree waste for spoons written by Katrina Emery The Portland Spoon Company was born out of an excess of wood and a little hobby. Russell Clark, a carver, works by day as an arborist in the Portland Metro area. From tending to the dead and downed trees, he saw so much wood go through the chipper that when he picked up spoon carving he found himself with a glut of material. He taught himself from books, videos and fellow carvers, online or in person. “The first few were terrible,” he laughed, but he now sells the beautiful spoons, ladles and spatulas online and in a handful of shops around Portland, like the Hoyt Arboretum gift shop. With all the tips and tricks in his arsenal, and so much passion for the craft, he’s partnered with Wildcraft Studio School to teach spoon carving…

Business

Pop of Joy Makes Weddings Manageable and Memorable

Pop of Joy is keeping it simple and wants to keep your wedding manageable, simple and beautiful written by Sheila G. Miller | photography by Road 40 Pop of Joy believes that weddings are supposed to be about one thing—two people declaring their love and commitment to one another. But over the years, they’ve also morphed into focusing on other things, like twenty bridesmaids and photo booths and donut walls and sparkler sendoffs and coordinated dances and multiple dress changes. Now, Sharayah Dancer has a plan to bring the meaning back into focus with her new company, Pop of Joy. “We want to make sure to make it so easy for brides,” Dancer said. “Weddings get crazy and so stressful, and there are so many parts to weddings that people don’t understand until they start planning.” Dancer, with a business partner, used to run Blush Events, a wedding planning company…

Artist in Residence

Roger Nichols Is Still Making Iconic Music

Local Bend resident Roger Nichols is still making iconic music written by Holly Hutchins | photography by Joe Kline It started as a Crocker Bank TV commercial. It evolved into one of popular music’s most iconic songs, eventually voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “We’ve Only Just Begun,” made famous by Richard and Karen Carpenter in 1970, owes its origin to legendary songwriter and longtime Bend resident Roger Nichols. To date, this classic has played on the air more than 4 million times, earning the distinction of being one of the top fifty songs of the twentieth century. Over the years, Nichols’ music, co-written with Paul Williams, Tony Asher, Bill Lane and other notable lyricists, has been recorded by hundreds of artists worldwide, including Barbra Streisand, Three Dog Night, Barry Manilow, Paul Anka, Johnny Mathis and on and on. Nichols also composed commercial spots for a client list…

Oregon Sports

Good Bike Company in Prineville

James Good of Good Bike Company is Balancing Business, Baby and Fitness Bike shop owner learns to schedule for success written by Mackenzie Wilson  | photography by Bradley Lanphear When James Good opened a bike shop, it never crossed his mind that he’d suddenly be strapped for time to work out. Good and his wife, Natalie, relocated from Ogden, Utah, to Prineville in 2014. They were looking for somewhere rural she could continue her work as a family doctor and they could put down roots. Good wanted to live out a childhood dream. Everything fell into place—Natalie got a job at the hospital in Prineville, and an old gas station downtown was just begging to be renovated into Good Bike Co. That’s when things got hectic. When I was 10 or 11 years old, I said, ‘Someday I’m going to live in the mountains and start my own bike shop….

Food+Drink

Beerlandia: Is Beer Bad for Us?

There’s a myth out there that beer is bad for us. It comes from the beer belly and the mentality of, “A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.” Know what actually gives beer a bad name?

Business

Matthew Carter of Carter Knife Co.

Originally from the Midwest, Carter traveled to Bend on a whim to visit a friend and ended up staying. He finished up his bachelor’s degree in social science at Oregon State University-Cascades. Carter remembers going to lectures all day and grinding metal at night. He admits his knives were amateur at first, but that didn’t stop friends and family from wanting to buy them. Carter Knife Co. was born.

Travel

Jupiter NEXT Edgy Style Meets Luxury

Jupiter NEXT, a sleek six-story stunner that embraces that same edgy local style, but with luxurious touches written by Jen Stevenson Jupiter NEXT is the latest Jupiter team project. Since 2004, the Jupiter Hotel has been the inner eastside’s main boutique hotel squeeze, providing a uniquely Portland experience with its eclectic design, wildly popular basement music venue and lively Doug Fir Lounge (hence the earplugs on every nightstand). This summer, the Jupiter team debuts its latest project, Jupiter NEXT is a six-story hotel in Portland with lots of modern amenities like 60-inch flat screens, glass-cube bathrooms and in-room digital concierges. The 67-room, Works Progress Architecture-designed hotel’s location couldn’t be more prime. Portland’s inner eastside is hotter than ever, and while it’s easy to hop on a downtown-bound bus or the Portland streetcar, there’s really no reason to leave the neighborhood. After dinner, grab a rummy nightcap at the jungle-themed hotel…

Oregon Travel

Crater Lake Trip Planner

The facilities at Crater Lake are buried under fathoms of snow for much of the year, and even in July surprised tourists arrive in shorts and T-shirts only to shiver against the wind.