McMinnville | MADE Event and Expo
Sep 30, 2016
Home-MADE from a whole new perspective
(Courtesy of David Bates at the News Register, 9/30/16)
Some of McMinnville’s major manufacturers will participate in an expo next Friday designed to give the general public more insight into their operations and products.
Billed as McMinnville MADE Day, it’s being organized by the McMinnville Economic Partnership to mark both the industrial advocacy group’s 10th anniversary and National Manufacturing Day, celebrated the first Friday in October since 2011.
The public part of the event will run 2 to 4 p.m. at Konect Aviation, by the airport at 4040 S.E. Cirrus Ave. It will feature demonstrations and food and beverage tastings, with 16 local manufacturers on hand to discuss their products and services, ranging from fruit bars and cider to rebar, aircraft parts and drones.
“This is a fantastic opportunity,” said Jody Christensen, who has headed the MEDP from its inception. “Our office celebrates things made in McMinnville every day, and this event is a chance for the community to experience our local manufacturers first-hand.”
According to the MEDP, nearly 2,300 of McMinnville’s more than 30,000 residents work for one of its 85 manufacturers. Collectively, she said, they have a payroll of more than $108 million.
She said many market regionally, nationally or even internationally, not just locally. For example, while you may buy your Betty Lou’s fruit bars downtown at Harvest Fresh, it’s also possible to find them in Austin, Texas, and Miami, Florida.
In addition to Konect and Betty Lou’s, participants in the local expo include Cart Away Concrete, Can-Do Real Foods, Carlton Cyderworks, Cascade Steel, Chemeketa Community College, the Dundee Fruit Company, eCNC, Express Employment Professionals, Freelin-Wade, Family Business Counsel, Key Bank, Meggitt Polymyers & Composites, New Energy Works, NW Rapid Manufacturing, NW UAV, One Fork Farm, RP Advanced Mobile Systems, Solid Form Fabrication, Walnut City WineWorks and World Class Technology.
Earlier in the day, local elected officials and business leaders will participate in tours at Northwest UAV, NW Rapid, World Class Technology, Meggitt and Betty Lou’s.
See the article here.
