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…

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.

Independence, Oregon: A Small Town with Advancing Technology

Independence, Oregon: A Small Town with Advancing Technology

How one small town is embracing tech written by Sheila G. Miller EVERY FOURTH OF JULY, as many as 25,000 people flock to the city of Independence, Oregon — population 9,666 — to celebrate the holiday with a multiday festival. “The town grinds to a halt,” said Shaun Irvine, the city’s economic development director. “Staffing is never quite enough. We needed a way to be more efficient.” This year, it would be different. Working with TeamDev, the city plans to create a virtual situation room to make the festival smarter. Irvine described it as, essentially, a map of the community with real-time updates—traffic incidents, police calls, live video streams, employees’ locations. Garbage can sensors can tell employees when it’s time to empty them. Employees will be able to monitor social media. “We’ll be able to know if someone’s in the park and tweets at a friend that the bathroom is…

Making an Effort to Prevent Wildfires in Oregon

Will the 2017 wildfire season change the way Oregonians fight fire? written by Sophia McDonald It’s common for people to remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they received the news of the wildfire. Kevin Gorman is no different. On September 2, 2017, the executive director of Friends of the Columbia Gorge was at his Portland-area home enjoying a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. That came to an abrupt end mid-afternoon. “A friend of mine texted me a picture from Multnomah Falls with plume of smoke and said, ‘Do you know about this?’” he recalled. “It was within about twenty minutes of it starting, so I didn’t.” Gorman hopped online just in time to see the first news of the Eagle Creek Fire. He was glued to his computer for the rest of the weekend, and he wasn’t the only one. Millions of people across Oregon watched…

My Workspace: Saddle Up with Rod Retherford

Rod Retherford is no dilettante when it comes to leatherwork. He’s been building saddles for more than twenty years. His shop, Rod Retherford Saddlery and Cowboy Art, is in Pendleton, the Eastern Oregon city famous for its annual Round-Up.

Oregon Business: Marketing Tips From Kevin Getch

An Interview with Kevin Getch Written by Kelly Rogers Webfor founder, director of digital strategy and president of the Board of Directors for SEMpdx, Kevin Getch is the man to talk to if you’re ever in need of some digital marketing insight. We had an opportunity to sit down with Kevin during the Engage Marketing Conference PDX last week. His affinity for the entrepreneurial spirit and getting people out of their comfort zone is what drives him and continues to grow his business. With an amazing team of people by his side and clients who are great to work with, he’s happy to have made the switch from the corporate environment to this new SEO world he’s created. When and why did you decide to start Webfor? I have been a huge fan of psychology and marketing in general for a long time and have been in the marketing industry…

2010-Spring-Eastern-Oregon-People-Paisley-Caves-Archaeologist-Dr-Dennis-Jenkins-lead-photo

Archaeologist Dr. Dennis Jenkins and His Profound Discovery

Archaeologist Dennis Jenkins takes up the search for the New World’s oldest people in caves of Eastern Oregon. Some bones he found point beyond the Clovis era that took place between 13,500 to 12,800 years ago.