{"id":2472934,"date":"2026-06-24T01:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2472934"},"modified":"2026-06-24T01:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:10:30","slug":"bend-central-district-block-party-transforms-second-street-into-open-air-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/bend-central-district-block-party-transforms-second-street-into-open-air-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Bend Central District Block Party transforms Second Street into open-air festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bend\u2019s Central District transforms into an open-street festival Saturday with circus performances, interactive art, roaming stilt walkers and theatrical performances. The inaugural Block Party will unite local artists, performers and businesses for a full day of art, entertainment and connections.<\/p>\n

A portion north of Second Street will be closed to vehicular traffic and replaced with bounce houses, chalk art and artist booths. Central Oregon LandWatch will offer guided walking tours exploring the history, evolution and future of the city\u2019s cultural hub.<\/p>\n

While most of the action will take place between Greenwood Avenue and Lafayette Avenue near Somewhere That\u2019s Green, Funky Fauna Artisan Ales and Open Space Event Studios, local businesses throughout the district will be involved in the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love the idea of having a block party on Second Street,\u201d said Will Nash, who opened Nashwood Gallery on Second Street in March.<\/p>\n

The fine art gallery is located next to Olney Avenue but Nash hopes the festivities will attract visitors to his gallery featuring paintings, sculpture, jewelry, photography and furniture by local and regional artists. <\/p>\n

\u201cLittle by little, we\u2019re finding our way and getting Bend to realize that we\u2019re here. And maybe the block party will really help, so we\u2019re kind of excited about it,\u201d Nash said.<\/p>\n

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On the day of the festival, Nash, who is a fine wood artist, furniture maker and luthier, will host a sale in his workshop and the gallery\u2019s parking lot. <\/p>\n

The gallery is located near Camp Clay, a ceramic studio that will have live music and wheel-based demonstrations on the day of the event. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool up here,\u201d Nash said of the district. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to accentuate the coolness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Art for a cause<\/h3>\n

In conjunction with the Lay It Out Events-produced block party, Open Space Event Studios will host NOURISH, a pop-up professional art gallery showcasing the work of 18 Central Oregon artists in partnership with Family Kitchen and FREAK\u2019N ART. There will be a ticketed gallery reception on Friday, followed by a public exhibition and sale Saturday.<\/p>\n

Each exhibiting artist has chosen an amount between 30% and 100% of the total sale of their work to donate to the Family Kitchen, a nonprofit that serves free, nutritious meals to anyone who enters its doors. <\/p>\n

Anastasia Zielinski, an artist, member of the event\u2019s curatorial team and the owner of FREAK\u2019N ART, said, \u201cInstead of that percentage going to a gallery and a business, it\u2019s going to help feed our community here in Central Oregon. So it felt like a really meaningful and easy way for local creators to give back to their community while still respecting the work that they do.\u201d <\/p>\n

For Zielinksi, it felt important to allow participating artists to choose the percentage of the sale to donate. Every spring, her email inbox is inundated with cold requests for her artwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a pervasive sense in our society that art is fun and so therefore, you shouldn\u2019t be worried about making the income off of it, but art is work. People dedicate their time, their money and their resources to their practices, and it feels really disrespectful when you\u2019re constantly asked to give your work away,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Zielinski will exhibit three pieces from her portfolio in the show. Her work is rooted in the connection between humans and nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy process starts with walking meditations. As I move, surroundings dissolve into patterns of color and light,\u201d she said in her artist statement. \u201cThrough my art, I document the plant life of public spaces, gardens, parks and open lands. Rather than highlight grand vistas and panoramas, I focus on the varieties of vegetation that thrive in the often-overlooked areas along my walks. I am particularly drawn to moments of overgrowth and density, where there is no foreseeable end to the foliage. These mysterious environments inspire dense, detailed compositions that spark wonder and captivate the viewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the canvas<\/h3>\n

Bend-based artist and designer Kimberley Yaeger created a mixed-media triptych inspired by the exhibition\u2019s theme \u2014 nourish. It\u2019s constructed from thousands of individually cut and hand-painted elements reflective of the 12,000 meals Family Kitchen provides to the Central Oregon community each month.<\/p>\n

According to Yaeger\u2019s artist statement, the work \u201ctransforms repetition into a meditation on nourishment \u2014 honoring the unseen labor, consistency and collective care behind every meal served.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley Dowden, who is also a curator of NOURISH, said she has taken multiple art classes at Zielinski\u2019s art studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have ADHD and it really helps me get out of my head. All of a sudden, there are no more radio stations playing and I\u2019m just focusing on the project, I\u2019m not doomscrolling political stuff on social media,\u201d Dowden said. <\/p>\n

Dowden is also a board member at Family Kitchen, an organization founded in 1986 and relaunched as an independent nonprofit in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to be a part of (the block party) and see the energy in the Central District and get our legacy organization in front of some new faces and get people excited about the next 40 years,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

If You Go<\/h3>\n

What:<\/strong> Bend Central District Block Party <\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> Second Street between Greenwood Avenue and Lafayette Avenue and the Bend Central District at large<\/p>\n

Cost:<\/strong> Free<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/strong> bendblockparty.com<\/a><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> NOURISH <\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> 5:30-9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday <\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> Open Space Event Studios, 220 NE Lafayette Ave., Bend<\/p>\n

Cost:<\/strong> $55-$85 for entry Friday. Free on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Contact:<\/strong> familykitchen.org\/events\/nourish <\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source bendbulletin.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bend\u2019s Central District transforms into an open-street festival Saturday with circus performances, interactive art, roaming stilt walkers and theatrical performances. The inaugural Block Party will unite local artists, performers and businesses for a full day of art, entertainment and connections. A portion north of Second Street will be closed to vehicular traffic and replaced with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2471004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2472934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Central-Oregon-Symphony-announces-new-conductor-artistic-director.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2472934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2472934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2472934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472935,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2472934\/revisions\/2472935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2471004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2472934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2472934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2472934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}