Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinAngeline Rhett is the owner of The Belfry in Sisters.

Angeline Rhett spent her first winter in Sisters selling sandwiches and baked goods from a street cart.

This year, Rhett celebrated her 20th year in the small town and her 18th year as owner of Angeline’s Bakery in downtown Sisters.

In November, she’ll reach another milestone — her third anniversary as owner of The Belfry, a bustling, 240-capacity music venue only a few blocks from her bakery. Rhett has been a constant presence on the entertainment scene in Central Oregon, weathering the recession and, through her venue, changing the live music landscape in Sisters and beyond.

Over the past three years, The Belfry — housed in a 100-year-old church located on E. Main Avenue — has hosted shows by national touring acts such as Tift Merritt, Greg Brown, Loudon Wainwright III, Suzy Bogguss, Hot Buttered Rum and more, along with many local bands and other events.

“I’ve heard it several times that we’re the best venue in Bend, which kind of makes me a little bit proud,” Rhett said before a recent Belfry show featuring Detroit rockers Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas.

Rhett moved to Sisters in 1995 to be a wildland firefighter. She did that for two summers and decided she “just didn’t want to leave.” In 1997, she opened her bakery; two years later, she was hosting musicians in the backyard there during the summer. She settled in an old house between the bakery and the site of the future Belfry. A lover of old buildings, she was drawn to the former church, which had sat vacant for a number of years before she took it over.

“My kids have run up and down the ramp when they were toddlers, and I’ve walked by here lots of times on the way to the library or whatever,” Rhett said. “And it was going for a while, and then it was just kind of a vacant space.”

In summer 2012, the building’s previous owner invited Rhett to take a look inside.

“I had lived here forever, and I just had never really been in here,” Rhett said. “And it looks kind of like it does now. We made some changes for sure, but the whole vibe of this place (is the same).”

On Nov. 15 that same year, she purchased the building, hosting her first show there that night. Since then, she’s worked extensively on the building, making improvements to the electrical systems, installing fluorescent stage lights and uncovering the original hardwood floors under “acres of orange carpet,” among other projects.

A successful Kickstarter project in 2013 helped Rhett pay for a number of repairs, including a sprinkler system, to bring the building up to code. She’s been able to boost income by renting space in the building and the adjacent annex, which houses Preston Thompson Guitars.

At this point, the shows are doing well enough that Rhett is able to give back to the community. She said she donates proceeds from shows to nonprofit organizations including Circle of Friends and Rise Up, and in the fall will open the basement up to Sisters High School’s new transition program for students in special education.

“The stuff that happens in the world that is really meaningful is made by people who went out on a limb,” said Sisters musician Hobbs Magaret, leader of Hobbs the Band and a frequent performer at The Belfry and Angeline’s Bakery. “After 2008, after the economy crashed, in a small town, not everyone has a whole lot of anything. Angeline was the first breath of life, the first to go on a limb and get something happening in Sisters.”

—  Reporter: 541-617-7814, bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com