The North Bend Downtown Foundation will host a downtown North Bend merchant’s meeting, 5 to 6 p.m., Thursday Jan. 19 at the North Bend Visitor Information Center and Mountain View Art Gallery, 250 Bendigo Blvd S, North Bend. All local business owners are encouraged to attend.

The goal of the meeting is to create an officially recognized merchants association.

Following the meeting, the center will host an artist’s reception, through 7 p.m. Artists of the new exhibit will be on hand to discuss their work and light refreshments will be served.