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- #2: See you at the Hillsboro parks!
#2: See you at the Hillsboro parks!
Park Pop-Ups, Adventure Passes, Selena Tribute Band, and Boys & Girls Aid!
Amanda Marcott
July 09, 2025 • Read this edition in: 14 minutes
Hey there Reader!
We’re proud to feature small businesses doing cool things right here in Hillsboro. This week’s spotlight? A local gem that deserves a spot on your radar. 👇
This edition is sponsored by The Viable Source
☕ The First Sip
“Before you scroll… let the vibe steep.”
Hellooooooooooo Hillsboro!
I hope you had an amazing week and stayed safe if you chose to celebrate during the 4th of July. My household intended to join the Hillsboro Rotary in watching the parade (I had adorable little mini zines to hand out while we found a place to sit and everything!) but alas…we got the plague. So we’ve been camping in our house for the last few days to make sure everyone is healthy again.
 Look for these cute zines all around Hillsboro! | Which gave me plenty of time to start some more searches about all the great things happening around Hillsboro. Which also had me double down on this little newsletter because all the great events, amazing connections I making, and ideas that are already pouring in from our little subscriber community are things I KNOW you want to know about! But what if you know something I don’t? Well! Send it to me and I’ll get it in here! I’d LOVE to hear all about that great bakery that’s Hillsboro’s best kept secret, or that fun hike that’s in town but feels like you’re past North Plains. Maybe you have a family recipe that readers will love, or you want to nominate someone for Big Deal Energy! |
I want to hear all of it. And I’m hoping you’ll share! The Orenco Press was built to help bring our community together, but I can’t do it alone! So if you have an amazing place, space, or face you want to celebrate send an email to [email protected]! Tell me all about it and I’ll share everything I can with our readers!
It’s going to be a great week! So let’s get into it, shall we?!
One thing I can honestly say I am excited about is the website! We’ll have a space where organizers will be able to submit their events, a blog with in depth articles, interviews, and stories from your neighbors, and a directory of our favorite businesses! Thankfully, The Viable Source is building it out for me and I don’t even have to worry about all the SEO stuff because they do that too!! |  |
That means for every business that decides to support The Orenco Press, their website links will also get a little boost because of the amazing SEO, marketing, and web design work from the team members at The Viable Source. They are even setting up my website so that when The Orenco Press has grown, I can invite local contributors to write about their adventures in Hillsboro! (And a few other surprises coming this fall!) It has been a joy working with The Viable Source team. They are all very kind, patient, and thorough. If you’re looking for a beautiful, fast-loading, and professional website, some monthly marketing support, or need better Google ratings I highly recommend sending Jeremy a message for a consult!
Sponsored by The Viable Source
📻 What’s Brewing (also known as: Events)
Your go-to list of local happenings, side quests, and a few excuses to put on pants.
Find the full forecast at Weather.com
🎡 Out & About — “Local fun for all ages.”
Park Pop-Up Hosted by Hillsboro Parks & Recreation, this adorable family event is free for everyone! Park Pop-Ups Dogs are welcome at the parks, but please make sure they are leashed! (And remember to pick up after them!)
With fun activities like Rollin’ Rec (playing soccer, cornhole, badminton, foot races, team games, & more!), Wetlands on Wheels (a hands-on exploration of nature and science), Mobile Makers (get crafty!), and Library on the Loose (discover games, books, activities, and get your library card if you need one!)
This week’s Park Pop-Ups will be:
Wednesday, July 9 at McKinney Park from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Features include: Rollin’ Rec, Wetlands on Wheels, Mobile Makers, and Library on the Loose
Thursday, July 10 at Shadywood Park from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Features Include: Mobile Makers, and Library on the Loose
Get a aheads up for next week!
Wednesday, July 16 at Tamarack Park from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Features include: Rollin’ Rec, Wetlands on Wheels, Mobile Makers, and Library on the Loose
Thursday, July 17 at Orenco Woods Park from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Features Include: Mobile Makers, and Library on the Loose
Great news!! Adventure Passes are back from our amazing Washington County Cooperative Library Services! Never heard of the Adventure Pass? It’s an amazing collaborative effort from our local libraries and our favorite locations, where you can use your library card to visit for FREE!!
You can visit the Japanese Gardens, Outdoors In, Next Level Arcade, and even the Portland Art Museum!
🎉 Enjoy FREE entry to amazing local attractions
⭐ Choose your destination & date.
📅 Reserve online with your library card number & password
Passes can be reserved up to 4 weeks in advance. New passes drop regularly.
Keep checking back if your top pick isn't available yet!
🎨 Creative Block — “What’s being made, played, and staged.”
The Showtime Concert Series features live music on Thursday evenings during the month July at Shute Park!
Bring a camp chair or blanket to sit back and enjoy the great tunes from top local talent. There’s even food trucks for dinner!! Or you can bring your own food and drink. Remember it’s sober fun…No alcohol allowed.
This culturally and musically diverse series has been bringing neighbors together for dancing and fun for more than 30 years!! Totally free, totally worth it!
 A Cara O Cruz - A Selena Tribute Band | A Cara O Cruz A Cara O Cruz is a Latin band with influences from rock and cumbia. They play covers in English and Spanish, and will be celebrating the music of Selena. Thursday, July 10 from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm |
🍴 Bite Club (Food & Drink)
Craveable bites, fork-worthy finds, and snack-sized updates from around town.
It’s no secret that Hillsboro sports a pretty impressive lineup of delightful restaurants, food trucks, bakeries, and cafés. I cannot WAIT to start sharing my favorites with you!
🌮 Taco Index Report — Our cheeky rating system using 5 tacos instead of stars.
This Taco Index Report is for those humans that deal with Celiac disease like my handsome husband. For the normies - that means you can’t eat gluten, which is basically wheat. Which means those gooey cinnamon rolls from Decadent Creations or the mouth watering cupcakes from Favi's Fabulous Cakes are off limits. It’s a travesty. (Because if you haven’t been to those bakeries you are MISSING OUT!!!!)
However, the Blue Moon Bakery is a godsend to those with both a sweet tooth AND an aversion to wheat!
Blue Moon Bakery🎉 = GF or Gluten-friendly 🍭 = Kid-approved Boasting an impressive 358 5-star reviews on Google, this delightful little TOTALLY GLUTEN FREE bakery provides the best of Grandma’s Summer Kitchen (the cookies, the cakes, the crumble bars! Oh MY!!) both baked and take-and-bake ready! But maybe you want something savory, like a potpie or just a dinner rolls that doesn’t have the texture of cardboard. (I see you, store brands.) Blue Moon Bakery is once again to the rescue! We bought breakfast hand pies (I chose the bacon, the hubs chose the ham), some savory scones, a box of their pancake mix, and obviously too many treats to be responsible. 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮 5 tacos ALL. THE. WAY! |  |
🏆 Big Deal Energy
Because the little things are the vibe.
🌈 Best Advice You’ve Ever Gotten — Crowd-sourced wisdom
“Always remember that you have full control over your life, even when it doesn’t feel like it. You’re not a tree and you still have free will. Your choices directly affect the outcomes - the people you choose to surround you, the career moves, the books you read, how much you travel, and the places you visit. So choose well. Because often, the rocky road is a necessary inevitability to level you up in life, and you want to at least be on the path that makes you the happiest while you work through the hard stuff.”
📬 Dear Hillsboro – “Signed, sealed, and straight from Hillsboro.”
🌈 Dear Hillsboro,
Today we saw a dad helping his toddler navigate the splash pad at the Hidden Creek Park East. Her shoes were off, socks forgotten, and pants completely soaked, while he carried a coffee in one hand and a gentle smile that said “this is the good stuff.” We watched an elderly couple on a bench near the monkey climbing structure on the West side split a sandwich and share a kiss like it was a gourmet feast. Someone left chalk hearts near the basketball courts. And someone else paid for the car behind them while we were at Insomnia Coffee.
We know there’s a lot going on in the world, in our neighborhoods, in our homes. But it’s nice to pause and notice the little stuff. The stuff that adds up.
So here’s to the walks that take longer than expected. The cold brew that hits just right. The text from a friend that says, “I saw this and thought of you.”
Hillsboro, thanks for being the kind of town that still believes in slow magic.
With love,
The Orenco Press
TheOrecoPress.com
💖 Volunteer Vibes — “Small actions. Big impact.”
While at the Shute Park Library searching for new graphic novels for my preteen kiddo, I met the most lovely people from Boys & Girls Aid. If you’ve never heard of this lovely organization, grab some tissues because you’ll need ‘em!
Now celebrating 140 years, Boys & Girls Aid is dedicated to supporting foster kids. From all aspects. They help foster kids find homes, pregnant humans find help if they chose adoption for their baby, as well as housing services and emergency safe-place shelter for displaced kids to prevent homelessness.
“More than 8,000 children have spent at least one night in foster care in Oregon every year. And more than 5,000 children are living in Oregon’s foster care system each day. This morning, these children woke up in a bed that is not theirs, they are living without their parents, their siblings, their family pet, their teachers and friends. They are living in limbo, unsure about their future.”
I had no idea it was that many kids! But their mission is a big one - they are committed to helping foster children and teenagers find “secure, devoted, and long-term families.”
There are so many ways you can help. They have volunteer opportunities of a wide variety, and ways you can donate. If you are interested in learning how you can become a foster parent, visit their site for a list of information sessions. The next one will be Thursday, July 17th, 5:00pm-6:00pm but you can schedule an appointment if their prescheduled sessions don’t work for you. One way or another, Boys & Girls Aid is an organization that is definite Big Deal Energy.
There’s plenty more planned, and lots more to do so I can provide the bestest neighborhood newsletter this side of the tunnel! But for now I just want to say thanks. Thanks for joining the very long group chat in my brain, for all your future suggestions to share with others, and for hanging out all the way to the end.
I’ll see you next Wednesday, and I hope you have a GREAT week!
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