High Desert Museum

We love you, Bend. 💜 Free admission continues today (Saturday, Oct. 17) through Sunday, Oct. 18. Join us to take a walk in nature, find a quiet moment, or let your kids be kids. We are here.

One of our young visitors (Henley, age 8) wanted to share a special message, too. 💌

UPDATE: We love you, Bend. We’re extending free admission for the community through the weekend, Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18. Join us to take a walk in nature, find a quiet moment, or let your kids be kids. We are here.

If you need a quiet place to walk, breathe, and be together, our doors are open. 💜

Today and every day, we recognize and honor the Indigenous peoples whose stories and traditions are deeply woven into the High Desert.

Tribal members receive free admission to the Museum year-round.

Image credit: "Lil Fat Guys" by Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco), waxed linen basket, 2012, in the care of the High Desert Museum. Pat Courtney Gold was a fiber artist and basket weaver from Warm Springs, Oregon. Regularly on view in "By Hand Through Memory."

Today is World Migratory Bird Day, which is a good excuse to look up. Here’s just a small sample of who's coming and going this fall.

Some are arriving. Some are leaving. Some are just passing through. Remember to do your part: turn off outdoor lights at night, close your blinds. Because every bird counts.

There are two films at the 2026 Bend Film Festival this week that have ties to the High Desert.

"Our Mr. Matsura," Beth Harrington's documentary, follows a photographer you may remember from one of our temporary exhibitions in 2025. Frank Matsura spent a decade capturing Indigenous life in Washington's Okanogan County.

"The Caldera" follows ranchers, tribal members and conservationists in Oregon's remote High Desert, where a proposed lithium mine is raising questions about land, culture, and the future.

Catching one or both films? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Calling Central Oregon students in grades 8–12! Join us Saturday, October 10, for In Pursuit: A Youth Summit on Identity, Belonging and America at 250 at the High Desert Museum.

Students will spend the day with artist Miguel Almeida, whose installation Las Manos que dan de Comer (The Hands That Feed) honors the farmworkers of the Owyhee and Snake River valleys. Miguel will lead a tour of the exhibition, talk about why he makes art and guide a hands-on studio session where students create an original piece to take home.

Their work becomes part of Central Oregon's contribution to the nation's 250th anniversary, alongside young people across the country taking part in the 2026 National Youth Summit, presented by the National Museum of American History in collaboration with Smithsonian Affiliations.

Free. Lunch provided. Free transportation from the Vámonos Outside office in Bend. No art experience needed.

Register today: https://www.highdesertmuseum.org/learn/community/youth-summit/

Long before it was a national park, the Yellowstone hotspot shaped Oregon's landscape directly, producing the Coast Range, Smith Rock, and a long list of places you've probably stood on without knowing the backstory. Geologists have only just begun to map these connections in the past decade.

Join Ellen Morris Bishop (geologist and photographer) for the story and a photographic tour of the hotspot's volcanic legacy in our own backyard.

Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 8pm.
Tickets $10 (20% member discount)
https://www.highdesertmuseum.org/yellowstone