The Community Open House at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) has become an anticipated tradition over the past 10 years.  This is the time each summer when we throw open the gates at the farm and invite the public in to see what we are working on to support farmers and the agricultural industry here in the north valley area.

This past July, we were blessed with a beautiful summer evening—and a huge crowd.  We counted 285 attendees, but know we missed some that were coming in the Exit gate since we were plugged at the entrance—a near record crowd for this three-hour event from 4:00-7:00pm!

And, we had our largest showing ever with educational displays, exhibits and demonstrations hosted by our NWREC faculty and staff—all sharing their latest research and projects from work with berries to hazelnuts, Christmas trees, vegetable production, and much more.  Faculty guests from OSU’s Corvallis campus came to share their knowledge, too.  And, our dedicated OSU Master Gardeners and Family Food Educators from Clackamas County participate every year to share their expertise—and popular food samples! 

Special thanks, as always, to our community partners for helping make this event a possible each year including: Fir Point Farms (hay wagon for farm tours), Pape Machinery (400+ HP tractor for driving demos), Canby FFA (delicious BBQ) Aurora Farms Montecucco Farms (farm fresh veggies).