Tillamook County Creamery Association’s Post

Hey there, LinkedIn fam, it’s Pauline Nguyen! Join me as I take over Tillamook’s LinkedIn page and share what my day looks like as a Corporate Communications Intern.    I started my day arriving at the Portland Outpost at 8 a.m. For my internship project, I am creating LinkedIn content and helping with a weekly employee communication. My day consists of lots of writing, brainstorming content ideas, and collaborating with team members. Before heading to our team meeting, I grabbed a cookie by the infamous Comms Cookie Corner (yum, white chocolate raspberry is my favorite!) Next, I attended a resume workshop to learn some valuable resume and interviewing tips. Thanks to this, my resume is now in tip-top shape. Afterward, I grabbed lunch with a friend and ended the day practicing a presentation run-through with my manager. My favorite part about interning at Tillamook is the welcoming people, whose genuine care for my growth and success has significantly enriched my internship experience. 

Fire up the grills! As part of our annual mid-year meeting roadshow, our new President & CEO David Booth shared business performance updates with our Boardman, Tillamook and Portland Outpost sites. These meetings are followed by our beloved summer barbecue tradition, an opportunity for our teammates to connect with colleagues, families and our farmer-owners, and to recognize the incredible effort put in during the first half of the year as we recharge to finish the year strong.

This summer, the 2024 intern cohort visited the Tillamook Creamery visitors center to get a behind-the-scenes look at what makes Tillamook unique. Interns toured our facilities, gaining firsthand insight into our operations and our commitment to quality and innovation. They also enjoyed cheese tasting, delightful ice cream and other fun activities.

Earlier this summer, the June Dairy Parade and Clover’s Day Parade took place as cherished traditions that unite our community to honor our local dairy industry’s rich history and farmer families. We are proud to continue being sponsors of these festive events. Members of the Tillamook team and their families joined in the fun, handing out cheese and representing Tillamook with pride.

Today on Farmworker Appreciation Day we honor the tireless efforts of farmworkers and their important role in providing food for our communities, while ensuring farms across the country thrive. Thank you, farmworkers!

Over 1 million guests visit our Creamery visitors center on the Oregon Coast every year, and we want to ensure that it is a welcoming place for all guests. This year, we installed Hearing Loops to offer guests in the hearing loss community clearer communication. And, we are offering new sensory kits that include noise reducing headsets, a squeezable loaf toy, branded sunglasses, sensory/emotion cards, a fidget popper, and a coloring kit for kids to enhance the experience of neurodivergent guests. We’re continually building accessibility support so that all guests have an inclusive experience and leave with smiles and stories to share.

Turn up the heat! Chef Josh Archibald led our intern cohort in a hands-on cooking class. They made carnitas tacos with tortillas made from scratch and Tillamook cheese, and enjoyed a blackberry tres leches cake. They left with bright smiles, full stomachs and memories to share.

We’re beyond thrilled to share that Tillamook has won big at the International Cheese and Dairy awards! The gold medalists are:  Farmers’ Collection Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar (Best USA Cheese Any Variety and Naturally Smoked Cheese)  Brick Cream Cheese (Cheese Spread, Any Variety)  Seriously Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread (Specialty Soft or Cream Cheese with Additives and Soft Cheese Containing Sweet with Additives) Cheers to the entire Tillamook team who is committed to delivering high quality dairy every day.  

What is sweeter than a summer evening filled with berries? Our friends at Columbia Farms U-Pick welcomed the Tillamook team and their loved ones back for twilight berry picking. Smiles were shared over ice cream sandwiches, and cartons were filled with blueberries, raspberries, marionberries and blackberries. 🫐

What weighs as much as 166 tractors? The 2.6 million pounds of food waste we diverted from landfill in 2023!   We are honored to receive the Association of Oregon Recyclers’ 2024 Sustainable Oregon Award recognizing our efforts in preventing food waste from being sent to the landfill. Over the past 5+ years, we have expanded the ways we manage food waste diversion and identified beneficial solutions like donating products to local food security organizations, sending scraps and byproducts to regional farms for animal feed, and sending organic waste to be used to generate clean energy (which in part powers our Creamery visitors center)!