Tibetan immigrants Tsering Dolma, from left, Tsetan Phurbu and Keypa Nankhang were among the 3,000 attendees at the Taste of Parkrose held in June at Rossi Farms in Parkrose. STAFF/2018

Tibetan immigrants Tsering Dolma, from left, Tsetan Phurbu and Keypa Nankhang were among the 3,000 attendees at the Taste of Parkrose held in June at Rossi Farms in Parkrose.
STAFF/2018

Much like a five-year-old child, Taste of Parkrose has seen a massive growth spurt since its birth in 2014. In five years, the Historic Parkrose (HP)-founded event––sponsored by Parkrose Hardware, Prosper Portland, Big Green Egg, Rossi Farms and Gateway Brewing––has become Parkrose’s most attended yearly bash, with a “25 percent increase in sales since 2017,” says HP District Manager Mingus Mapps. 

Taste of Parkrose 2018 seems to have left an impression on both HP and the general public. Moreover, it represents HP’s broader ambition to deliver a freshness to one of east Portland’s oldest neighborhoods. 

“This year we stuck with what has been successful in the past, but we expanded upon our ideas to make this year even better!” says Samantha Montanaro, HP chair. “The new stuff this year made the festival gel. Parkrose is at a ‘new fitting in with the old’ place in general right now, and I think the overall feeling is really positive. The new folks have a ton of respect for the people who have been here forever, and everyone agrees that we want Parkrose to thrive.” 

The event, which was held on June 23, has released some compelling numbers. One astonishing takeaway is that the event saw more than 2,000 visitors throughout the day in 2017 and more than 3,000 in 2018. Taste of Parkrose capitalizes on the distinctive flavors of the Parkrose community; it employs mostly local bands, restaurants and breweries (including a cidery) to attract attention toward local businesses.

HP is one of eight Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative (NPI) areas. The NPI is a Prosper Portland program that focuses on economic development at the neighborhood scale. A volunteer-driven, self-help approach within each neighborhood is the tried and true method. With grants, training, staff and funding support from Prosper Portland, each district is responsible for planning and implementing projects that improve the commercial districts. HP specializes in offering storefront improvement grants to local businesses in the commercial district, but lately it’s had a flair for concocting branding initiatives in the name of creating a sense of local identity. Branding initiatives like Taste of Parkrose appear to be going nowhere but up. “If it had been much busier this year, it would have been too busy,” says Mapps. “I thought it would take us a couple years to grow into Rossi Farms, but we’re at 80 percent capacity. We’re going to be at Rossi Farms for a couple of years longer, but we might use some spaces we haven’t used before.”

Remi Sears, who participated in the inaugural Kids Fun Run, part of this year’s Taste of Parkrose, worked up an appetite.

Remi Sears, who participated in the inaugural Kids Fun Run, part of this year’s Taste of Parkrose, worked up an appetite.

Mapps says that next year’s Taste of Parkrose will stick to the same format, but HP will have to begin brainstorming more creative ways to use its space if attendance continues to accelerate. This year, there was a record-setting number of 40 vendors, as well as four participating bands. “We might use the inside of the barn next year,” says Mapps. “Eventually, it might grow into a two-day event.”

While Taste of Parkrose might never expand to two weekends like Coachella, one of its most redeeming features is its responsible usage of its own finances. It makes enough to pay off its costs, in addition to donating to the larger community. “It’s basically a self-sustaining event,” says Mapps. “We don’t actually make a ton of profit; most of the profit gets funneled back to the groups that help us with organizing. We’ll donate to the Parkrose High Key Club, as well as the cross-country team that helped us staff our run.” 

If you can’t wait a whole year for Taste of Parkrose’s next installment, Mapps teases a couple of tempting changes. HP is already looking ahead. “Next year, we’ll try to have a DJ over at the vendor area and a scavenger hunt. People tend to walk through there and hang out near the bands and the food, so we’d like to make this work better for our vendors.”

Despite threats of overcrowding, Mapps promises, “Next year, we’ll try to make it 20 percent bigger.”

To learn more about HP and Taste of Parkrose, visit their website at historicparkrose.com.