Friday morning, Bend woke up to a fresh dusting of snow, the perfect weather to set the mood for an iconic winter double feature : the 2023 Bend Christmas Parade and the opening of Mt. Bachelor ski area.

Mt. Bachelor opens Saturday

Mt. Bachelor is set to open at 9 a.m. Saturday morning, leaving plenty of time to catch a few runs before heading back into town for the yuletide festivities.

The ski area was originally scheduled to open on Nov. 24, but management decided to delay until another storm rolled through. Thursday, the mountain collected 10 inches of cold, dry snow, the last bit needed to safely open.

The ski area plans to open the Little Pine and Sunrise lifts Saturday, but advised eager skiers to be prepared for delays caused by the ongoing storm.

“Conditions will be challenging, but we live for this and we will do everything in our power to get the lifts spinning,” stated the ski area on its weather and operations page.

Bend Christmas Parade

As the lifts — hopefully — begin spinning on the mountain, float entries and parade participants will gather downtown as they finish decorating their floats.

This year’s parade theme is “The Lights of Christmas.”

Parade Chairman Michael Sipe said this year’s parade is set to be bigger than ever before. There are 107 entries, and he expects more than 10,000 people to gather in downtown Bend.

“Come early,” Sipe said, “because there will be a lot of people there — and dress in layers. There is no bad weather, just bad gear.”

Although Sipe has a better idea than anyone what the parade lineup will look like, he said he has not seen any of the decorated floats. He’s excited to see the wide variety of entries and how everyone chooses to interpret the theme.

Each year the parade continues is a triumph. After 2020, it didn’t look like the tradition would continue, said Sipe.

The parade was canceled that year due to COVID-19 restrictions and the organizer, Ernie Gilpin also died that year.

“It looked like the parade was likely to not happen again. Then I got a call and agreed to take it on. I had never even seen it before, but 2021 was the first year it was operated under (10X Catalyst Group’s) leadership,” Sipe said. “It’s gotten bigger and better each year since then.”

10X Catalyst Groups is a peer advisory board for Christian CEOs owned and run by Sipe.

Unfortunately, the Christmas Parade experienced yet another blow this year with the death of Terry Rahmsdorff at the age of 74 in November. Rahmsdorff had been Santa Claus to the children of Bend for 40 years, and was a mainstay of the annual parade.

This year, Sipe said Santa will be played by George Coppage.

The 2023 Grand Marshals for this year’s parade will be Trish Smith and family. Their participation will honor the legacy of Trish Smith’s late husband, Bill Smith, who died in 2022.

Bill Smith was known throughout Bend as one of seven investors who purchased 270 acres of the abandoned old mill property in 1993. Under their stewardship, it became the Old Mill District and Hayden Homes Amphitheater.

Trish sits on six committees for the Central Oregon Community Foundation, which holds a $1.8 million endowment for charitable funds.

She and Bill Smith were married for 52 years and their family consists of daughter, Marney, son, Matt, their spouses and six grandchildren.

The parade will begin at noon at the corner of NW Newport Avenue and NW Harmon Boulevard. The procession will continue into downtown Bend, turning onto Wall Street and then Franklin Avenue and ending at the tip of Drake Park.

Terry Rahmsdorff, star of Bend’s Christmas parade, dead at 74