The Doubletree Hotel sits on the edge of the Downtown Bend Economic Improvement District (EID), providing Bend visitors with excellent hospitality and a front door that leads right into the heart of Bend, our downtown.  

This access is provided by a long staircase from the Doubletree property to Lava Rd.  This year, the Downtown Bend Business Association (DBBA) and the Doubletree Hotel brought the condition of this staircase to the attention of the City of Bend, who owns the property.  

The City of Bend quickly responded and they were able to complete the project before winter set it.  The Downtown Bend Business Association and the Doubletree Hotel would like to extend their appreciation to the City of Bend for helping visitors access the Downtown Bend boutiques, spas and restaurants owned by local Bend families! 

BendTel is a locally owned and operated telecommunications company with a mission to provide Central Oregon customers with the highest quality communication services at affordable prices. They are a full service, facilities based, Competitive Local Exchange Company (CLEC), that has been focused on providing voice, long distance, data, Gigabit Internet and hosting services to businesses in the Central Oregon area since 2003.

BendTel is constantly working on expanding their Gigabit Fiber Internet footprint throughout downtown and adjacent areas. Their use of Gigabit Bandwidth Internet and the latest cutting-edge technology recently earned them an award at the 2019 Oregon Connections Telecommunications conference. They were awarded for their “Excellence in Telecommunications Projects and Regional/Local Strategies” for developing and implanting innovative projects that provide better access, reliability and affordability to telecommunication services. 

BendTel is also the official sponsor of the annual Downtown Bend Celebration Night that happens every May and the WiFi sponsor of Bend Oktoberfest. Both of these events are fundraisers for the local nonprofit, The Downtown Bend Business Association. BendTel is a key asset to the health and vitality of Downtown Bend – and it’s not just about the direct services they provide. Because of BendTel’s support for Downtown Bend, we are able to have things like flower baskets and Holiday decorations!

Right now, BendTel is offering an exclusive deal for DBBA Members! This offer includes a Sangoma IP Phone –featuring Voicemail to Email & Find Me/Follow Me, gFiber Internet (50x10Mbps) with reliable service and guaranteed speeds on their multi-gigabit capable gFiber network and bHosted Managed Voice – backed by their local support team. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get the first month for free!

Call BendTel today, and join the DBBA/BendTel Team! You’ll be glad that you did.

The Downtown Bend Business Association (DBBA) is a small nonprofit dedicated to increasing the vitality of Downtown Bend.
 
In addition to our other services, we are the 100% responsible for the cleanliness and beautification of  the Downtown Bend economic improvement district (EID).

Our scope of work includes, but is not limited to:

• Funding, delivery, installation, maintenance, and daily watering of 100 flower baskets and 50 planters May-Sept annually including active communication with our community partners at Landsystems Nursery.
• Management, including active communication and project maintenance, with all of the Downtown Bend waste management vendors, including our community partners at Bend Garbage, Cascade Disposal, and SeQuential.
• Active communication with all building owners within the Downtown Bend EID to assure clean, uniform and safe building and sidewalk maintenance.
• Funding and staffing for Snow Removal – 42″ wide clear path of Downtown sidewalks and crosswalks for employees, visitors and customers to get around safely.  We also ensure that all ADA parking spaces and access points are cleared, and provide shop owners with supplies to borrow (snow shovels) so that they can clear their ‘front porches’.

We would like to extend a huge “Thank you!” to our staff, board, volunteers, donors and community partners for helping us keep Downtown Bend beautiful!  By being committed to positive communication, community support, and a shared love for Downtown Bend, we can continue to keep our Downtown vibrant and thriving!
 
We are excited about several new Downtown Bend beautification projects we have coming up, stay posted to learn about all the great stuff that we have in store for Downtown Bend! 

The Downtown Bend Parking Advisory Committee (DPAC) has announced a partnership with Deschutes County and the City of Bend to provide access to free public parking at the Deschutes County Administration building parking lots on weekends and during special events. The Deschutes County Administration building parking lots, located between Wall Street, Lafayette Ave and Olney Ave, contain as many parking stalls as the Downtown Bend parking garage on Lava Rd and Oregon Ave.  DPAC anticipates that utilizing these parking lots at the Deschutes County Administration building, during the busy summer tourist and special event season, will allow more people to easily access Downtown Bend.  The parking lots will be available from Friday evening after 6pm to Sunday night.  
 
“Downtown Bend is one of the greatest assets of our City, and currently we are seeing parking reach capacity during our popular events and attractions”, says Aisling, Executive Director for the Downtown Bend Business Association, “This partnership will allow more people to experience our vibrant Downtown with ease.”

We are proud to report that there are several areas of alignment between the 2019-21 Downtown Bend Business Association's Goals and the  2019-21 Council Goals and Strategies. One of these aligned goals is to address livability crimes in the Downtown area.  A key step in this effort is increased patrols in the Downtown Economic Improvement District (EID) with Bend Police School Resource Officers during the busy summer season. Earlier this week Bend Police Department officers, City of Bend staff, and the Downtown Bend Business Association (DBBA) took a walk through the Downtown Bend EID.  You can expect to see these increased patrols within the EID in the coming week.

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BEND CULTURAL TOURISM FUND
Grant Applications Due April 12, 2019
 



​The Bend Cultural Tourism Commission announces the fifth year of the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund with the opening of its on-line grant application for Cultural Tourism grants. The complete application is due April 12, 2019 at 5:00 p.m.   Guidelines and instructions for both are available at https://www.visitbend.com/about-us/bend-cultural-tourism-fund/ The Commission will make its awards in May 2019, and anticipates over $200,000 in grant awards.
 
In 2018, the fund awarded a total of $205,000 helping local organizations leverage marketing resources to attract more cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months – a time of year when the city’s tourism industry is down yet the vibrant cultural activities so central to Bend’s character are still going strong.
 
The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund (BCTF) is a grant program dedicated to enhancing the local economy through the promotion and cultivation of Bend’s cultural tourism programs, with an emphasis on activities that help attract cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months. For more information, please see the website at
https://www.visitbend.com/about-us/bend-cultural-tourism-fund/. 

As I walked around Downtown Bend this morning checking on the icy conditions within the Downtown Economic Improvement District (EID), I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for all of the love-in-action I saw for our community.  

The City of Bend, Oregon had already sanded the streets of Downtown, multiple building and business owners were out making sure the sidewalks and alcoves of their stores were ready for customers.   I arrived in my own office (predawn) to find my staff already out spreading ice-melt on all of the sidewalks in Downtown Bend.

I am continuously proud of the work that the Downtown Bend Business Association does.  From snow and ice removal to advocacy at City Council  - and everything in between, it feels good to be part of an organization that is committed to the success of the community.

This morning was a good example of just what makes our community so special.  Regular, everyday citizens working together to insure our community is safe and ready for commerce. 

Written by Mindy Aisling, Executive Director, Downtown Bend Business Association

The Downtown Bend Business Association is pleased to announce Bend Premier Real Estate as the presenting sponsor of the annual Bend Oktoberfest, to be held on Sept 21st and 22nd.

Bend Premier Real Estate’s Lynnea Miller states, “We are extremely pleased and excited to be part of such a worthwhile event. Not only is it worthwhile, it’s a blast! The fact that Bend Oktoberfest fundraising provides so much for our Downtown makes it a really unique Bend event.”

This annual Bend Oktoberfest is a traditional German harvest celebration of food, fun, and brews. The event spans two days with a Family Fun Zone, Live Music, Weiner Dog Races, Tricycle Races, outrageous games, face painting, contests, giveaways & more. 100% of the proceeds go to the Downtown Bend Business Association (DBBA)- a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the vitality of Downtown Bend. Oktoberfest is the DBBA’s largest fundraiser of the year and it is produced by the DBBA to directly raise funds to help beautify Downtown Bend & stimulate its economy.   To learn more about this event, visit www.bendoktoberfest.org

About Bend Premier Real Estate
Bend Premier Real Estate is the only company in Bend to have been selected to join Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, the most elite and largest luxury real estate network in the world. Brokerages with this distinction provide the highest level of customer service and demonstrated marketing excellence in luxury real estate. Through this alliance, our Luxury Properties are now featured on LuxuryRealEstate.com’s award-winning website, which attracts over 200 million potential buyers and more than 4 million page views in more than 190 countries each month with more than 12 billion dollars in active luxury real estate listings across the globe. Additionally, BPRE is now associated with the largest network of luxury real estate professionals with nearly 3900 offices and over 130,000 agents.
To learn more about the Bend Premier Real Estate, visit: https://www.bendpremierrealestate.com/

​About the DBBA
The Downtown Bend Business Association is a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation. It is governed by a volunteer board of directors, composed of business and building owners in Downtown Bend.. Its board meets monthly and lends its expertise to the operations of the DBBA and the organization’s impact on the City of Bend. The DBBA’s mission is to increase the vitality of Downtown Bend. You can learn more about the DBBA at www.downtownbend.org.

Ride Bend is back for another summer in Bend. The free shuttle had a successful first-year last summer. It’s now back with longer hours and a larger route.

The bus runs from noon until 10 pm every day until September 3rd. You can go from downtown to the Old Mill without worrying about driving or parking. “Shop, eat and play in Bend… leave the driving to us” says Cascades East Transit (CET).  

There was a launch on June 29th to highlight the beginning of the summer free shuttle. At the event was; Michelle Rhoads the CET manager, Sally Russel from the City of Bend, Kevney Dugan the CEO of Visit Bend, Katy Brooks the Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Mindy Aisling the Executive Director of Downtown Bend Business Association, Jeff Monson the Executive Director of Commute Options, Casey Bergh the Transportation Manager at OSU-Cascades, and Jordan Ohlde the RPTAC member and transit advocate. During the event, each person listed above spoke about the benefits Ride Bend brings to businesses, residents, and tourists throughout Bend.
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If you’re downtown, you can grab the shuttle at the corner of Franklin and Wall Street. From there, the shuttle will take you to the Old Mill District on Bluff Drive. The shuttle will then take some stops on the way to Century Drive near OSU-Cascades campus. This provides an easy way for people living on the west side of Bend to make it downtown. The last stop on the trip is on Galveston and 13th Street. The entire loop only takes fifteen minutes.