Along the Street: HelloCare receives entrepreneur network award

HelloCare, a McMinnville-based company that sends caregivers to homes and recently opened a senior daycare program, received the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s Entrepreneurial Achievement Award at the OEN’s Nov. 17 event.

The award honors founder Helen Anderson and her company for financial achievement, traction, team and social impact.

The McMinnville Economic Development Partnership nominated Anderson for the award for “leading her team to success, demonstrating outstanding, ethical leadership, fostering a great workplace culture and setting an example other founders would aspire to achieve.”

MEDP’s nomination noted that Anderson persevered “with building a start-up during a pandemic, addressing a healthcare need in our communities and being a truly supportive employer offering training and benefits to her employees beyond the traditional offerings.”

Window décor

McMinnville Downtown Association’s annual Window Decorating Contest will start Monday, Nov. 28.

Community members can vote for their favorite window online.

The top three windows will win prizes. Winners will be announced Dec. 22.

MDA also is continuing its “Twere the Weeks Before Christmas” promotion, with businesses offering a scratch-off ticket with each purchase of $25 or more. Customers can win prizes by scratching off the dots on the cards.

Pajama collection

Ticor Title, 1215 N.E. Baker St. in McMinnville, is collecting pajamas for local families.

New PJs can be donated at the office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays before the end of November. For more information, call Ticor, at 503-472-6101.

Sock drive

Provoking Hope also is collecting socks for homeless people.

A sock donation drive is planned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, at Grocery Outlet. Socks also can be donated at the Provoking Hope office, 213 N.E. 10th St., McMinnville.

Sparkling wine

Torii Mor Winery, 18323 Fairview Drive, Dundee, will release its first sparkling Pinot during this weekend’s Wine Country Thanksgiving event. It is one of many wineries offering Thanksgiving Weekend specials.

Torii Mor also will have its annual special sale during the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 25-27.

The sparking wine is called Blanc de Noir. It is a 100% Pinot Brut made from Torii Mor’s old vine block first planted 50 years ago.

For more information, call the winery at 503-438-2713 or go to toriimorwinery.com.

Pie relationships

Realtors Dan and Kristie Masterson of McMinnville called their current and former clients with a surprise: they want to give each a pie for Thanksgiving.

“This is a business of relationships,” said Dan Masterson, as he prepared for clients to pick up their apple, pumpkin or pecan pies Wednesday afternoon. “It’s fun to talk to the clients again.”

He and his wife are with the Premiere Property Group. There’s an office in Newberg, but they work mostly in McMinnville and other parts of the county.

The Mastersons specialize in residential real estate, but can deal in other types, as well. They’ve been in the realty business since 2014; before that, he worked in banking for 10 years.

This has been their best year ever, he said, and they wanted to give back to their clients by offering a sweet dessert. “You put good out into the world, and it comes back to you,” he said.

For more information, the Mastersons can be reached at 541-991-1851.

Holiday trees

McMinnville Lions Club will start its annual Christmas tree sale on Saturday, Nov. 26.

The grand opening will run from 1 to 7 p.m. in the lot next to Sears, 1621 N.E. Baker St. After that, the lot will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends.

Nobles, Nordmanns and Douglas firs will be available.

Proceeds go toward Lions scholarships and youth programs.

For more information, call Todd Caster, at 503-560-2851.

Chamber Greeters

Kathleen’s Hallmark, 1321 N.E. Highway 99W, will host the McMinnville Area Chamber of Commerce Greeters program on Friday, Dec. 2. The event will run from 8 to 9 a.m. For more information, go to the McMinnville Chamber website, mcminnville.org.

Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce also will hold a Greeters’ program Dec. 2. The event will run from 8 to 9 a.m. at 700 Deborah Road, Suite 200, Newberg. For more information, go to chehalemvalley.org.

Esquire award

The high-end sushi restaurant okta, part of the Tributary Hotel established in mid-2022, has been named 27th in Esquire Magazine’s annual “Best New Restaurants in America” list.

Seating at the restaurant, 618 N.E. Third, is by reservation only, and multi-course meals start at $165.

Reviewer Joshua David Stein wrote, “The heartbeat of okta, Matthew Lightner’s grand return to his native Pacific Northwest, isn’t the pulsating hearth in the back of the dining room or the focused action in the hushed kitchen or even the chatter and crystal chime of the parties dining. (The wine list, focused on Willamette Valley, is very good.) It is a few miles away at the five-acre farm that provides the raw material for Lightner’s efforts. It is not just a farm, but a larder, a fermentation lab, a bakery, a constantly shifting source of life. Like horse and rider, Lightner is so finely attuned to the seasons the two move as one. That means the tasting menu changes with the light and might include an egg custard, shimmering with corn; marinated albacore hiding, Salome-like, under a veil of cucumbers studded with dehydrated ground cherries; blueberries with an eggplant reduction topped with a Queen Anne’s Lace ice cream. That is, a wildflower turned into a far out flavor which, like the meal itself, is an argument for a close reading of the natural world.”

Writers Jeff Gordinier, Omar Mamoon, Kevin Sintumuang, and Stein spent a year traveling across the country to try different restaurants. Portland’s Kann, a Haitian restaurant, gained number ranking, and Comedor Lilia, Mexican, Portland, was listed at 16. The restaurant list appears in the national publication’s December edition.

What’s going up

n Construction of Linfield University’s new W.M. Keck Science Center is running a little behind, but it is still on schedule to open in time for spring semester in February 2023.

The new projected completion date is Jan. 19, about five weeks later than at first expected, said Allison Horn, facilities director at the McMinnville school.

“It will be tight” getting everything ready for the start of classes, she said, “but it’s exciting.”

Lab spaces remain to be finished, as do drywall and electrical installation. Furniture is being installed as it arrives.

Horn said a number of issues have slowed the project, including supply chain and shipping delays, a lack of skilled labor and June rains that delayed finishing the roof. But some extra time was built into the project, for which ground was broken in July 2021.

n Applied Physics is remodeling part of its space at 1600 N.E. Miller St., McMinnville, to create a new clean room, according to a city building permit. The $1.15 million project also includes a new fence and restriping the lot to create handicapped parking.

n CS Property Holdings LLC took out a city building permit to alter an existing ground floor office. The $30,000 project will create an accessible sleeping unit at the Douglas on Third boutique hotel, 703 N.E. Third St., which already has rooms upstairs.

CS Property Holdings is owned by Dennis and Lucetta Elmer and Deborah and Gerald Moen.

n An old shed-like building on Cowls Street, between Second and Third, has been razed to make room for the new, two-story Wilder Hotel. The city issued a permit Oct. 18 for the $175,000 project.

n A $750,000 remodeling project continues at the McMinnville Safeway store, 2490 N.E. Highway 99W. The grocery store remains open regular hours.

n Head Start of Yamhill County is building new restrooms for children at its preschool facility, 800 N.E. Second St. The project is valued at $37,950, according to the city building permit.

To submit items for consideration in Along the Street, email Starla Pointer at spointer@newsregister.com.