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June Dairy Special Section
Cydney Stables 2025-26 Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador and Anna Wismer 2025-26 Alternate Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassdor
2025 Little Miss Tillys Brinlee Whiteman and Ruby Kendrick-Lewis
Parade & Festival Tillamook County Rodeo
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2025 Rodeo Court Junior Miss Ellie Ryan
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2025 Rodeo Court Queen Chloe Rieger
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Summer festivals kick off with June TLT Dairy Parade and rodeo this weekend reform T
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Staff report
illamook County’s annual slate of summer festivals kicks off this weekend with the 38th annual Dairy Days Parade on June 28, and the 68th Tillamook County Rodeo on June 27 and 28. Rodeo events lead the weekend off on Friday, with the Miss Tillamook County Rodeo and Junior Miss Tillamook County Rodeo competitions and Little Tillys pageant during the day before the first night of competition at 7 p.m. at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds. Saturday’s activities start off with the YMCA Milk Run at 8 a.m., before the June Dairy Parade begins rolling through downtown at 11 a.m., with a theme of “Moovin Thru the Seasons.” Rodeo champions will be decided on Saturday night and the Miss Tillamook County Rodeo and Junior Miss Tillamook County Rodeo crowned at the halftime. See the insert in this edition or online at our website for a map of the parade route, list of entries and more details about the rodeo and milk run.
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June Dairy Parade begins at 11 a.m. Saturday June 28.
Tillamook takes part in Whale Run airlift drill WILL CHAPPELL
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Headlight Editor
hree planes piloted by volunteers from the Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team ferried supplies to the Tillamook Airport on June 14, as part of an airlift drill dubbed the Whale Run. Tillamook County Emergency Management, Oregon’s Department of Human Services and Office of Resilience and Emergency Management, the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay and the Port of Tillamook Bay all helped coordinate and execute the exercise, which aimed to simulate the aftermath of a maximum Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and tsunami. The Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team (ODART) is comprised of pilots, who volunteer their aircraft and skills to help Oregon’s far-flung communities during a disaster. June’s drill was made up of a dry run on June 7, before the full drill on the 14th. On the 14th, Tillamook County Emergency Manager Randy Thorpe coordinated with the volunteers to coordinate a food supply run from Aurora to the coast in response to a simulated late night 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami. Three planes landed at the Tillamook
Supplies are unloaded from one of the Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team planes at the Tillamook Airport during the June 14 Whale Run drill. Photo by Jeff Gilbert
Airport around noon bearing 200 pounds of food each, where it was received, inventoried and distributed by drill participants. In the case of the drill, the transported food was donated to local food banks. After making their drop-off, pilots participated in a further drill to practice triage decision making in a crisis, with Thorpe providing a list of survivors with various medical conditions, who the pilots were responsible for prioritizing for air transport to the Willamette Valley. Beyond their supply and
evacuation functions, in a disaster ODART will survey roadways to help local emergency responders coordinate transportation and help coordinate communications between isolated communities. The exercise was the first that brought together ODART volunteers, Tillamook County emergency management and state agencies, and Jeff Gilbert, Regional Emergency Coordinator with the Office of Resilience and Emergency Management, said his team had been impressed by the results.
“We were not certain how smooth the coordination would go, but we could not have been more pleased,” Gilbert said. “Everyone came together and made it a truly wonderful success.” Gilbert said that given the favorable results, his team has already begun discussing a follow-up exercise larger in scale and involving more people across the county. In addition to Tillamook, the drill unfolded up and down the coast, with communities participating from Astoria to Coos Bay.
Garibaldi council raises water and sewer rates WILL CHAPPELL
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Headlight Editor
n a lengthy and sometimes contentious meeting on June 16, Garibaldi’s city council approved drastic raises to the city’s water and sewer utility rates, voted
to establish a street maintenance fee and adopted a budget for fiscal year 2026. The water rate increase will see the city’s base water rate for customers with three-quarterinch pipes jump from $37.62 to $48.91 for 4,000 gallons and is the
Headlight Editor
bill that would amend the allowed uses of transient lodging tax dollars by local governments passed the Oregon house of representatives on June 19. The bill, sponsored by Tillamook Representative Cyrus Javadi, passed with 31 yes votes against 23 no votes and will now move to the state senate for consideration. Javadi has been pushing for a bill to change the current statutory division of transient lodging tax (TLT) dollars away from the current split that requires 70% of those funds be spent on tourism marketing or related projects throughout this legislative session. After several early bills he put forward failed, Javadi partnered with Representative Jules Walters to revive the bill in mid-May, putting forward a bill that would reduce the statutorily restricted portion of TLT revenues to 40%, allowing local governments to use 60% of TLT funds for any purpose. “This new ratio strikes a practical balance—supporting tourism while giving cities and counties flexibility to invest in services impacted by visitors,” said Walters. “It ensures tourism marketing remains funded at sustainable levels while addressing local needs.” Now, the bill moves to the state senate for consideration, where Javadi said there is still work to do to earn legislators’ support. An opposition campaign by tourism industry interest groups has also intensified with the bill’s advance, with the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association releasing a press release taking issue with the bill’s legislative history on June 16, and the Oregon Coast Visitors Association soliciting citizens to send a form letter to their elected representatives in opposition to the bill on June 19.
Nestucca students and coaches save life WILL CHAPPELL
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Headlight Editor
third increase in as many years. The sewer rate increase will see the base rate rise from $62.71 to $81.52, while the street maintenance fee will be set at next month’s meeting but is expected to
uick thinking and courageous action from three Nestucca football players and their coaches saved the life of one of the team’s assistant coaches who experienced a medical emergency during a team workout on June 17. Teagan Slavens, Zeth Chapin and Brady Hurliman immediately sprang into action when Assistant Coach Frank Elasser went down, performing chest compressions and
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