Sisters quilt show. Pros and cons please. Camping nearby?
 

We are vacationing in Oregon. Should we visit the show? Was it worth it? I’m afraid it might be frustrating trying to do this, with all the traffic. We have bikes, so we could park outside of town and bike in.

Any thoughts?

I've never been, but have read and heard about it a lot, and I would definitely go if I was close by.

Traffic is awful, my husband and I tried to go to the quilt show years ago. Traffic was so bad we turned around and went home, the backup was several miles out of town on Hwy 20 and not in a hurry to move.

How far out of town are you? Maybe you can ride your bike from where your camping? Parking can be tricky, especially on the side of the road. I don't know about parking areas in and around Sisters that allow one to leave their vehicle and head to the show.

There is a shopping complex outside of town the local grocery store, Mickey D's and some small shops, perhaps you can park there.

Please be aware that Eastern Oregon is forest fire country. I picked up and move in 1982. I honked the horn all the way out of town (Lakeview.) I have never wanted to go back.

I used to live in Oregon and went to the show maybe half a dozen times. Since I moved back to California, I still try to go back for Sisters. I went last year and am going again this year. I have never encountered heavy traffic, arriving or leaving the show. But that's because I get to Sisters before 8 in the morning. At that time you can park right in town with no problems, the crowd is smaller, and it is cooler. Usually we've seen most of the show by 2 or 3, so we leave before the crowd. (The show doesn't officially start until 9, but most of the quilts are already hung long before then. The worst that can happen if you arrive early is that you have to watch the firemen up on the ladders hanging the last few quilts. I can live with that. :))

I've been to Sisters quilt show. I stayed near the interstate as I have high altitude breathing problems. Left my motel about 5 or 6 a.m.
Since I got to the quilt show early there was minimal traffic. I was parked close to the show.
I took my meds & had a fun filled day. Left to go back to low altitude when I had seen & done all; lots of traffic still going to Sisters & very little leaving.

I was able to go to Sisters 4 years ago and was so excited. I really never thought I would be able to see it. We live in Nebraska and drove our motorhome. Stayed in a campground near Bend, then drove our car to Sisters. If you look online, there is information about where to park when you get to Sisters, including a shuttle from parking at the high school. As others have said, the earlier in the day you go, the better. But we didn't get there until mid-morning and still found a place to park on a neighborhood street, walked to the downtown area. The thing is, it became extremely crowded as the day went on. Even hard to walk on the sidewalks. We did need to eat lunch and just ate at any place we could fit into. Also, it was very hot, much hotter than I expected after reading about the area. Overall- it was well worth any of the inconveniences, to me. Such a sight to see all of the quilts displayed outside. Probably depends on your tolerance for big crowds and heat. We went on to travel the coast of Oregon and we rate it as probably our favorite trip.

I went once and have no desire to go back. It's very very hot. It's dusty. It's crowded. The town has only about 1800-2000 residents, and there aren't a lot of places to sit, rest, get something cold to drink, and the few restaurants were slammed. 95% of the quilts hang on the outside of buildings and over fences. The quilt store was standing room only and I never was able to move around enough to see what the shop offered. I went with several quilting friends and most of us quickly became hot, tired, cranky, and miserable. We ended up cutting our trip short.

I have only been once and had a great time! Driving in - traffic was bad and we worried it would be too crowded. But it wasn’t. It was perfect. This year has both Jenny Doan and Rob Appel. Will be an awesome event to attend!

I read this with interest as I am going this year and am very excited to be doing so. I am going on a bus, so won't have to worry about parking, but I know to expect big crowds now :-)