9 minute read
Advice
O OUTSIDE
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Four-day competition to feature local and traveling players in this fast-growing sport
By Damian Fagan
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
If you’re interested in dinks and triple drop shots or lobs and lets, you’ll want to take in the 2021 Pacific Northwest Classic Pickleball Tournament, set to begin July 28 at Bend’s Pine Nursery Park and the Bend Pickleball Zone. The tournament, which runs through Sunday, Aug. 1, is organized by the Bend Pickleball Club and sponsored by Beaver Coach Sales. Two Northwest pro players, Wes Gabrielsen and Erik Lange, are co-hosts for the tournament.
Nearly 800 amateur and professional players have registered for the tournament.
“We’ve got players coming in from Florida, the Midwest and the Northwest,” said Christie Gestvang, tournament co-director with Kirk Foster. “The majority of the players in this tournament are from outside of Central Oregon, with about 150 from the area.” That translates to spectators having an opportunity to root for local players mixing it up in both the amateur and professional levels.
With a cash purse of $25K, this tournament is also a Nationals Qualifier sanctioned by USA Pickleball, the overarching organization that governs the sport in the U.S., and is one of 18 Association of Pickleball Professionals tournaments slated for 2021.
The events will feature double-elimination brackets for the men’s and women’s groups based upon their ratings (skill level) and age. Players have an IFP & IPTPA skill level rating, from 3.0 – 5.0, and have registered to play singles or doubles in either the amateur or pro brackets. There will also be mixed doubles.
Bend Pickleball Club has over 900 members and, “It takes about 100-150 volunteers during the course of the week to get this event set up, and without our volunteers we just couldn’t put this event on,” said Gestvang. Volunteers help with setup, first aid, hospitality, parking and
Folks of all ages have discovered the fun of pickleball.
more. “It’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun. It’s one of the finest venues in the Pacific Northwest and one of the largest pickleball tournaments in the Northwest.”
When the topic of the Pine Nursery courts comes up, one name stands out: Werner Zehnder, owner of the Bend Pickleball Zone.
“When we came to Bend, we went looking for pickleball courts but they didn’t have any, so we (about 30-40 members of the fledgling Bend Pickleball Club) had to sneak onto tennis courts and bring our own portal nets and tape the lines,” said Zehnder. After a short while, the group attended a Bend Park and Recreation District meeting and asked for eight courts. Initially, BPRD wanted to build pairs of courts in different locations, but the group insisted that the courts be built at one site for tournament play and socializing.
Eventually, BPRD agreed to build eight courts at Pine Nursey if the BPC could come up with $100,000 to cover half of the construction costs. Zehnder became very involved in the fundraising. “We came up with the idea of naming rights for a court and raised $40,000 right off the bat,” said Zehnder. The group held
Courtesy Bend Pickleball Club tournaments, yard sales and an evening dinner and silent auction to raise another $40,000, and within three months the group had raised $100,000. Construction began in September 2013 and the courts opened in May 2014. Membership in BPC soared and when the group asked BPRD for eight additional courts they were told there wouldn’t be money in the budget for about five years. In a truly generous spirit, Zehnder and his wife, Susan, donated money for the additional courts with the stipulation that 12 of the 16 courts would be available to BPC members, 6 days a week, from 7 am to 1 pm, and be available to the public after those hours and all day on Sunday. BPC volunteers maintain the courts, as well.
One question that often comes up, especially in an Olympics year, is “Will pickleball ever become an Olympic sport?” The answer depends upon how many countries actively engage in playing the sport – for men that number is 75 countries over four continents and for women, it’s 40 countries over three continents. However, the game has enjoyed a fairly rapid expansion and could qualify in the future similar to sport climbing being added to the Tokyo Olympics.
Back in Bend, Gestvang and her volunteers are hard at work setting up for this week’s tournament “I’d suggest spectators be prepared to walk in from the south side of the park to the courts as parking will be at a premium,” added Gestvang. Let the games begin!
View the tournament schedule at pickleballtournaments.com.
2021 Pacific Northwest Classic Pickleball Tournament
July 28 – Aug. 1, 8 a.m. Pine Nursery Park, 3750 NE Purcell Blvd. Bend Pickleball Zone, 63040 NE 18th St. Pickleballtournaments.com Free for spectators Thanks to Tina Brockway who contributed to this article.
By Megan Burton
Courtesy Bend Central District
Bend Central District is adding its own First Friday featuring art and local businesses starting Aug. 6.
New First Friday
A new art event is just getting started this summer in Bend’s Central District. The Bend Central District Initiative has been focusing on creating proper infrastructure to help this area thrive. The Bend Central District, known to many as the BCD, encompasses the business, homes and parks nestled between the Orchard District and Larkspur Neighborhood. To keep the momentum rolling, the community decided to launch its own First Friday event on Aug. 6. Participating businesses will stay open late and showcase local artists and spirits. The walkable stretch from NE Second/Third Streets and Greenwood to NE Lafayette Street, will feature shops with a range of interests from books, tattoos, plants and a few places to stop and grab a bite or drink.
Bend Central District First Friday
Fri., Aug. 6, 5-9pm NE Second St. & NE Greenwood Ave. Learn more on Instagram @bendcentraldistrictfirstfriday
Picnic in Prineville
Next week is already August, signaling that the end of summer is near. Fortunately, there are plenty of new and free events popping up throughout Central Oregon even as summer starts to wind down. Prineville kicked off its annual Picnic in the Park series in mid July and there are still four more free shows on the calendar for those looking to explore beyond Bend. A wide variety of genres and music styles are offered throughout the final weeks of summer. Most of the shows are held in Pioneer Park and allow guests to bring blankets, picnic foods and chairs to enjoy the show.
Picnic in the Park
Hydrology9 NX : Getting High with a Handheld Vaporizer
Put down the paper towels and burn ointment. A new kind of device is here.
By Josh Jardine
Getting high is fun, but can also be both messy, and dangerous AF.
Messy, because as anyone who has ever tipped over a bong can attest, the rancid stench of the vile water can permeate any absorbent surfaces such as a couch, chair or bed, and linger for weeks. Dangerous, because the venn diagram of “high” and “600F blowtorch” intersect perfectly with “intensely painful second-degree burns.”
A newly updated water filter vaporizer solves these issues, as well as being highly portable, with well-designed options to keep the consumption going for hours. Put down the paper towels and burn ointment and meet the Hydrology9 NX.
It’s the v.2 of Hydrology9, a flower-only, cord-free, water-based handheld vaporizer that I reviewed and enjoyed when first released. It was a great vape whose sole drawback was shared by all portable vaporizers: battery life. Yet, that minor universal complaint has been addressed with the new NX version, as well as adding the ability to vape all forms of concentrates. I know, because I tried all forms of concentrates for this review, to the point where I tried using my TV remote to text.
The NX is slightly taller than a pint glass at just under 7 inches, and far thinner at under 2 inches around (aka 45 mm x 175 mm for all three of my Canadian readers). Its small size belies the solid weight and construction of a borosilicate glass mouthpiece and anodized aluminum alloy body. It doesn’t leave the hand fatigued post session, but its heft indicates a high-quality build. The bottom third is encased in a removable silicone sheath to assist in grip and diffuse the heat of the chambers, or ovens.
The two chambers have dedicated uses: One for flower, the other for concentrates. The NX uses a sensor to recognize which is being used, and they slide in and out easily. When not in use, an oven recesses seamlessly into the unit.
Flower is heated using a patent pending combination of conduction and convection, and provides smooth, flavor-filled hits.
Concentrate ovens come in both 100% quartz glass and ceramic buckets, based on selected temperature. I tried oils, hash, shatter and more, and found a terpene-rich session from each.
The NX has six pre-set temperatures for both options: Flower offers 356, 383, 401, 419, 437, and 455 Fahrenheit, while concentrate ranges from 554, 590, 626, 662, 716, and 770 Fahrenheit.
Twisting the dial at the base changes the temperature settings, which also changes the color of the bright light within the water chamber, which denotes the temperature. Green indicates you are ready to inhale, and blinking white informs the battery needs to be recharged.
I used 1/8th of a cup of ice water— much more can result in wet lips with a vigorous inhale. It smoothed all hits as only water can. The mouthpiece prevents leaks and spills, and its magnetic top offers ingenious carb cap storage. The entire piece breaks down easily for cleaning.
It charges fully in an hour, and the manufacturer states the 1900 mAh battery will provide 60-120 “sessions” per charge, depending on selected temperature. I’m taking their word for it, as 60+ sessions in a row exceeded even my monster tolerance. Its design allows a “hot swap” with a 2nd battery if you don’t want to wait for a recharge.
While the preset temperatures start a bit higher than I would select with a desktop unit, staying with the lowest two settings did me fine. I would love to see future models offer users the ability to select their own precise temperatures. After a solid two-week test run, that remains my only desired change to what is a very ergonomic, well-designed vaporizer that’s both attractive and very functional.
Buyers can select an NX with either flower or concentrate chamber for $270, or both for $300. That puts it on par price-wise with the Puffco Peak, but the ability to handle flower may make this a better choice for some users. Highly recommended for getting high.
Courtesy Hydrology9
Meet the new bong, NOT the same as the old bong.
