Andy Tullis / The BulletinBusinesses remain open with workers all around continuing an extensive construction project in downtown Sisters Thursday afternoon..

SISTERS — There’s one phrase coming from the mouths of business owners along Cascade Avenue — U.S. Highway 20 — in Sisters: “We are open.”

“The biggest thing that everybody talks about is, we’re here, we’re open. … Sisters is not closed down or shuttered up,” said Charlie Bunker, owner of Sisters Market on the corner of Cascade Avenue and Larch Street.

Bunker, 50, and his wife Tami, 43, have owned Sisters Market, a grocery store and eatery, for nearly five years. It is one of the few businesses on the highway that has had consistent sales since the U.S. 20 Cascade Improvements project began March 3.

The project, jointly funded by the city and the Oregon Department of Transportation, is in the first stage of a $6.6 million reconstruction of a six-block stretch of the highway through Sisters’ main street.

The market has a few slow days during the week, but for the most part it has had good support from local residents.

“It’s kind of hard to look at it and say, ‘Am I up, am I down, am I sideways?’ But I think I’m just steady,” Bunker said. “We’re fine with where we’re at. I’m kind of more fortunate that I think … if I was having to sell something else I might be angry.”

The Bunkers are making it, but that’s not the case for everyone. Several business owners in downtown are feeling the pressure.

Sisters Bakery doesn’t have a corner spot or great visibility. The shop also doesn’t have a second entrance. With all the construction, owner Melissa Ward said she’s had to post progress pictures on Facebook “just to let ’em know they can come in.” Ward, 68, said business has suffered 25 to 30 percent, but she put money aside before construction started on March 3. She’s also had to make a few changes with staffing and hours.

“I have adults who are the breadwinners, and I have a lot of high school kids on the staff, and I told the kids, ‘We’re gonna have to lay you off,’” Ward said.

She laid off three of the high schoolers employed there and even had to cut her hours for a few days while workers were removing the sidewalks. Ward described the construction as a “positive catastrophe”’ but is thankful to be kept in the loop and appreciative for the help of other local business owners.

“Other merchants around me have come in and said, ‘I know this is really hard on you, do you want to sell doughnuts through my business?’” Ward said. “I’ve never been the recipient of that.”

So far, workers have dug up the roadbed from Larch Street to Elm Street and are laying a gravel base and preparing to place two asphalt layers on the roadbed before new sidewalks are installed.

“Sidewalks are gone, roadway is gone, (there are) conveyor belts operating as sidewalks,” said Ann Fisher, community liaison for ODOT. “Curbs are in, irrigation piping is in, they’re getting gravel base for the road, catch basins in. We are on schedule.”

Work on the second stage, stretching from Elm Street to Pine Street, will begin the first or second week of April once the first three blocks of Cascade Avenue are accessible to cars and pedestrians, according to Fisher.

Even though construction won’t reach the doorsteps of Sisters Log Furniture & Home Decor and Sisters Log Furniture Outpost until the second stage of construction, owner Chris Wilder said business is still slow. He attributes that to the lack of car traffic, but he’s staying positive.

“Gutting a main drag down any town is always gonna be rough, (but) I know it’s as good as it could be,” he said. “Is it as convenient as it is dead of summer? Not quite, but you can still get to all the businesses.”

Wilder, 51, said he will lose about 25 percent of parking on Cascade Avenue for his business, but he said workers will add more parking and signage on side streets. He’s optimistic the finished product will draw locals and tourists to downtown Sisters and help the businesses thrive.

“One of our biggest things we said is we don’t want to make this town beautiful for the next generation of merchants; we all wanna be here when it’s all said and done,” Wilder said. “It’s kind of a personal thing for everybody.”

One way the merchants have banded together is through a “Stroll Sisters.” The events, put on through a partnership with the Sisters Chamber of Commerce, have been happening one Friday a month since August. Downtown businesses stay open until 7 p.m. and offer themed treats and special discounts only valid during stroll hours, according to Erin Borla, executive director of the chamber.

“It gives people an opportunity to experience Sisters whether they’re local, (in) Central Oregon or coming over for the weekend,” Borla said. “We want people to rediscover Sisters.”

Javier Luna, owner of Rancho Viejo Mexican Bar and Grill, said that despite the construction, his business has experienced an upturn of about 5 percent. He credits some of those sales to the Stroll Sisters events.

“Those are good for me; it brings people out,” Luna said. “They usually stroll and then they come and eat so that’s a new experience.”

Sisters Mayor Brad Boyd said, in general, he’s been hearing positive comments from the business owners and community about the project.

“There’s always trepidation when you take on a project like this,” Boyd said. “People are looking for it to be completed on time. So as long as we get it completed on time, people are gonna be happy.”

According to ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy, the roadwork and sidewalk construction on Cascade Avenue will be completed by May 15.

“It’s a promise that we made to the people of Sisters in order to make sure businesses would be open, there would be access into downtown during the traditional tourism season,” Murphy said.

Workers will then spend June through October putting in the finishing touches including vegetation, signage and street lighting, and installing benches and bike racks.

“We celebrated it coming in, and we’ll celebrate it when it leaves,” Wilder said. “We’re getting our life back.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2117, mwarner@bendbulletin.com