The Bend Store owner Delia Paine, center, talks to Nancy Chaney and Peter MacMillan of Seattle about Silipints on Monday.(Kathleen McLaughlin/The Bulletin)

Whether the eclipse boosted or stifled business in Central Oregon depended a lot on what was for sale and where.

Tourists snatching up eclipse souvenirs drove up sales at The Bend Store downtown four-fold, owner Delia Paine said.

“We had a phenomenal week,” she said. “We were open until 10 every night.”

But other shop owners were disappointed that the crowds didn’t materialize, at least not in downtown Bend. Concerns about heavy traffic prompted some tourists to cancel hotel reservations in Bend, and locals appeared to be staying home.

“I just think the overall hype, talking about how busy it was going to be, influenced people to not come at all,” said Jason Lusk, special projects and information specialist at Visit Bend.

Suzanne Johnson, co-owner of Oregon Body and Bath on NW Wall Street, said she had extra help available and was ready to extend her normal Sunday hours, but that wasn’t necessary.

“There was generally surprise and disappointment,” she said. “They just didn’t come.”

Similarly, brewpubs in Bend at noon Monday were still waiting for the eclipse crowds for which they’d planned. At Prineville pubs, it was another story.

“We’ve been absolutely, ridiculously busy,” said Joseph Barker, owner of the Ochoco Brewing Co. brewpub. “Earlier last week we were 30, 40 percent over summertime sales, but Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today, we’re at like 200 percent. It’s just been almost nonstop, it feels like.”

Likewise, Crooked River Brewing Co. kept a busy pace from midweek, when festivalgoers headed for the eclipse gathering on Big Summit Prairie east of the city began to arrive.

“It’s been crazy since last Wednesday,” said pub co-owner Jesse Toomey. “We were slammed. I’m so tired.”

In Bend, pub owners trimmed down their menus, in some cases, scheduled additional staff and braced for the wave. As of lunchtime Monday, it hadn’t arrived.

“Business is good; the back patio is full,” said Brandon Ehrlich, manager of the Sunriver Brewing Co. pub on NW Galveston Avenue. But the eclipse traffic has not had the impact he expected, so far, he said Monday.

Karen Snow, manager at GoodLife Brewing Co. brewpub on SW Century Drive, said the company trimmed its menu to items with a fast turn-around and put on extra staff, but few seats were filled Monday afternoon. The weekend was relatively quiet, she said.

“It was a pretty mellow Saturday,” Snow said.

At the Cascade Lakes Brewing Co. pub at SW Century and SW Chandler Avenue, manager Ashley Meulink was expecting a Monday afternoon surge as eclipse watchers made their way south along busy highways from Madras and Prineville, both of which had been in the path of eclipse totality.

“I’m kinda expecting today and, if anything, the next two days as people are passing through,” she said.

Marijuana dispensaries in Bend reported a busy Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a weekend lull. At High Grade Organics, owner Nick Harsell said festivalgoers headed for the eclipse gathering east of Prineville stocked up on edibles and vaporizer cartridges on the way. Business started to pick up again after the eclipse, he said.

“It’s definitely not an average Monday,” Harsell said.

Normal levels of foot traffic resumed Monday in downtown Bend, Lusk said.

The downtown visitor center fielded numerous calls last week from people who were worried about traffic, he said. The visitor center relayed advice from the Oregon Department of Transportation, which was to arrive early and stay late, he said.

“Everybody was super-nervous about it being chaos,” said Belinda Liskh, general manager of the Super 8 on Third Street in Bend. The motel received 15 cancellations on Sunday but re-booked most of the rooms to people from Southern Oregon, she said.

And the traffic jams didn’t materialize, at least not on U.S. Highway 97 south of Bend, Liskh said. Some Super 8 guests from Northern California arrived at 5 a.m. Sunday — hours earlier than they’d anticipated, Liskh said.

Nancy Chaney and Peter MacMillan of Seattle said they didn’t encounter heavy traffic, other than in Tacoma, Washington, as they drove to Sunriver on Saturday, or as they drove to Redmond early Monday morning to view the eclipse from Quince Park. Chaney and MacMillan, who stopped downtown Monday, said they planned their vacation two years ago around the eclipse and will stay in Sunriver until Wednesday, and then head to Cannon Beach.

Businesses could use a post-eclipse bump, said Keri Satterlee, co-owner of Satterlee Jewelry Repair & Design Center, north of downtown Redmond.

“We thought it would be this big rush,” Satterlee said. Instead, the eclipse drove business in “weird waves.”

Satterlee’s store was busy Friday but not overwhelmed on Saturday. Working at the company’s booth at SolarFest in Madras on Sunday, Satterlee talked to a lot of people who said they would be in Central Oregon until Tuesday and promised to stop by the store.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see Redmond pick up this week,” she said.

— Reporters: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com; 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com

“I just think the overall hype, talking about how busy it was going to be, influenced people 
to not come at all.” Jason Lusk, special projects and information specialist 
at Visit Bend