Bend was also one of the staging areas of protests against illegal alien transports by ICE several years ago (under Trump.) Protesters rioted, blocked buses and caused general nastiness in the city, with no consequences to them. I was shocked to hear this because when I visited several years earlier, it seemed like a fairly conservative area.
The Christian ministry I follow (Berean Call) is based there, and they always held their annual conference at the main conference center in town, a roomy venue. A few years ago, they announced that the conference would be held off site at an affiliated church, with much less room to accommodate the attendees and further from lodging and restaurants. I’m almost certain that the venue barred them from further rental of the facility because TBC was staunchly conservative, biblical, and opposed same-sex “marriage.” After the court cases redefining marriage, they were no longer welcome in public facilities.
We used to be friends with a camo liberal couple. They pretended to be conservatives. He was a science teacher and she was the lead secretary in our school system.
Their oldest daughter moved to Bend. About a year later they
helped her to buy a small 2 BR home in Bend. About a year later they bought a small trailer and parked it in her backyard.
They lived in that trailer to sleep and in their daughter’s home for the rest of the day during the summer vacations and holidays. After they retired, they basically live up there except Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb. They kept their N. California home as an investment and a place to stay to visit family and friends here. They still vote here and maximize the no sales tax in Bend.