Alpenrose Dairy facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Agriculture |
| Founded | 1891 |
| Founder | Florian Cadonau |
| Headquarters |
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US
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Area served
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Oregon and Washington |
Alpenrose Dairy was an American company that made and delivered dairy products. It was based in Portland, Oregon, on a large 52-acre dairy facility. In 2022, the Alpenrose brand was bought by Smith Brothers Farms. Today, Smith Brothers Farms still sells Alpenrose products, mostly through their home delivery service.
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History of Alpenrose Dairy
The name "Alpenrose" comes from the alpine rose flower. The wife of the dairy's founder, who was from Switzerland, chose the name. For many years, Alpenrose supplied dairy products to stores, wholesalers, and other businesses across the Northwest.
In 2020, Alpenrose started a new service called Alpenrose Home Delivery. This service delivered Alpenrose dairy products and other local groceries right to people's homes every week. Special delivery drivers, sometimes called "milkmen" or "milkwomen," brought the groceries to different neighborhoods.
In 2022, Alpenrose was sold to Kent, Washington-based Smith Brothers Farms. Smith Brothers Farms is another dairy company that specializes in home delivery. They continue to sell some milk products under the Alpenrose name.
Fun Places at the Dairy Grounds
The Alpenrose dairy grounds covered about 52 acres (21 hectares). For many years, these grounds were home to several unique attractions:
- Circuit d'Alpenrose: This was a special track for bicycle racing called a velodrome. It was one of only 25 such tracks in the United States. The track was built in 1967 for national championships. It was 268.43 meters long and had very steep turns, making it one of the steepest velodromes in the country. It hosted races all summer, including the popular Alpenrose Challenge. The velodrome closed to the public in 2021.
- Alpenrose Field: This field was used for baseball and softball games. It even hosted Little League Softball World Series games from 1956 to 2019.
- Dairyville: This was a special area designed to look like an old western frontier town. It had buildings with false fronts, a doll museum, an ice cream shop, a music store, and a large 600-seat opera house. The opera house had a huge pipe organ with 4000 pipes!
- A quarter-midget racing arena: This was a track for small race cars.
Alpenrose made many different products, including milk, ice cream, eggs, and various other dairy products like yogurt.
Exploring Dairyville
Dairyville was added to the Alpenrose grounds in the 1960s. As mentioned, it was a replica of a frontier town. It featured streets lined with old-fashioned shops, a doll museum, and an ice cream parlor. The large opera house had a pipe organ that was saved from the Portland Civic Auditorium. Dairyville was usually open to visitors on holidays and during the summer.
For many years, Dairyville hosted a special holiday event called "Christmas in Dairyville." This event included a gift shop and a place where kids could meet Santa Claus. There was also "Storybook Lane," a magical walk-through attraction. Visitors could wander through a snowy village with farm animals and displays based on Mother Goose stories. The attraction also had a tiny fire station for kids to explore. Local school choirs performed, and the opera house showed classic comedy films. The event stopped in 2005 but returned for the 2011 Christmas season.
Many items from Dairyville were sold in 2020. Some of the famous red and gold carriages, once pulled by miniature horses in parades, were bought and fixed up. They now appear in the annual Starlight Parade. Seats and film reels from the theater are also available for public viewing during Christmas at a local storage facility. The musical Calliope, which a clown named Rusty Nails used to walk with in parades, was bought by the son of its original builder. It was later sold to a local collector to be preserved. The little houses from Storybook Lane were bought by two different collectors.
Images for kids
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Alpenrose Velodrome
