Works by fine art photographer Bruce Jackson are being featured during the August First Friday Art Walk event, happening from 3 to 7 p.m. at Tumalo Art Co.

First Friday Art Walk returns this month, with a few noteworthy events, as well as some changes since you last may have wandered through participating galleries and shops.

Art Walk takes place from roughly 5 to 9 p.m., but the Old Mill District is putting a new spin on it, with things getting underway at 3 p.m. and continuing until 6 p.m.

The Old Mill has shifted the time forward in an effort to complement the downtown Art Walk, according to Monday’s announcement. Two longstanding Old Mill participants in Art Walk, Lubbesmeyer Art Studio & Gallery and Tumalo Art Co., will once again open their doors for the event. Twin sisters Lori and Lisa Lubbesmeyer will be on hand to discuss their work and fascinating collaborative process, and Tumalo will be featuring the work of acclaimed fine art photographer Bruce Jackson.

Now, they’ll have company. Susan Luckey Higdon noted that Tumalo Art Co. will be staying open till 7 p.m., and said she and the Lubbesmeyers are excited to now have City Home, Kara’s Kitchenware, Confluence Fly Shop, Saxon’s Fine Jewelers and Winsome Construction joining the fun.

“With more stores being open, with art and good wine and bites, we hope to establish a slightly different vibe than downtown,” Higdon said.

The Old Mill is not alone in getting in on the First Friday mirth: Some 11 stores in the Bend Central District, just to the northeast of downtown, are staying open late to participate in First Friday: Big Story Books & Movies, Somewhere That’s Green, BOL & Gordon Piano Co., Dragonfly Body Art, El Taquero, 541 Trends, Humm Taproom, Manzanita Grill, Open Space Event Studios, Rose Tree Cottage Gift Shop and Fancywork Yarn Shop.

Diversity and equality

But don’t sleep on downtown, which will be hopping with a number of shows opening, including a new Scalehouse Collaborative for the Arts exhibit, “Be Nice White … You’re in Bend.” The show features works by Central Oregon artists of color, challenging the standard narrative that Central Oregon lacks diversity. It hangs in Scalehouse’s home of Franklin Crossing, 550 NW Franklin Ave., through Sept. 25.

And you may also catch the early efforts of the three artists working on murals in the downtown parking garage during the Equality & Justice Mini Mural Fest, happening Friday through Sunday. The artists are Jessica Amascual, Bekah Bedilla and Evan Namkung, and they’ll be painting murals that express their hopes for equality and justice, according to the event’s Facebook.

The event is being brought to life through the efforts of the High Desert Mural Festival and Scalehouse.

“It was a reaction to last summer with all the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protests and wanting to kind of do something proactive that seemed community-positive … and trying to create some opportunities in the community through art,” said High Desert Mural Festival’s Douglas Robertson.

Grants were secured even before a location had been found for the murals. But about six years ago, he’d begun conversations with the city of Bend about a mural program for the parking garage, whose gray walls all but beg for colorful paint.

After seeing three spots on the alley side of the garage that would be perfect for the Equality & Justice Mini Mural Festival, Robertson once again approached the city.

“I sent them images of those three spots as well as the concept and the program for it, and they responded very, very enthusiastically and wanted to be part of it,” he said.

Robertson said the Mini Mural Fest is “sort of a pilot program to see if it goes well,” he said. If it does, it could lead to a mural program inside the parking garage, “where annually we would have a theme, and artists could apply for it.”