Background image of People gather in a wood-paneled hall. They are mingling between two rows of vendor tables. A large piece of green machinery can be partially seen in the background.

Local Link

In fall of 2019, Local Link was held at the Redd on Salmon Street, with more ways for wholesale buyers and chefs; regional farmers, ranchers, and fishers; distributors; and community food system organizations to connect, learn, and do business.

Local Link brings together a growing network committed to building thriving local economies, vibrant urban and rural communities, and equitable access to good food.

In 2019, we offered a dynamic vendor fair, followed by two breakout events to continue the conversation on farm to school purchasing and to bring whole hog skills to your kitchen!

Vendor Fair

Going Whole Hog Culinary Demo

Farm to School Procurement Hub Gathering

 

  • A smiling woman offers a sample to a woman in the foreground
    Mathilde Aurélien-Wilson, owner of Mathilde's Kitchen, offers a sample of Haitian cuisine
A man and woman smiling

Vendor Fair

The vendor fair was a fantastic networking opportunity, designed specifically for institutional food service buyers and chefs to connect directly with regional farms, ranches, and fishers and good food businesses. See the full list of vendors who participated in 2019.

Meaningful connections

Vendor fairs are attended by several businesses producing culturally relevant foods, who make fruitful connections with buyers. For example, during the 2018 event, Portland Public Schools (PPS) committed to purchasing 15,000 tamales from Salsas Locas for school lunches.

“One of the ways we express our culture is in the foods we eat. Having culturally relevant foods in the schools is twofold; it reminds students of the foods they eat at home and it teaches other students about new cultures and new foods!” — Lucy De León, owner of Salsas Locas

In addition to an array of vendors, buyers who attended the 2018 vendor fair had the chance to connect with unique service providers. Scott Scales, Executive Chef at Kaiser Permanente, was thrilled to learn that he could easily purchase products from many of the vendors he met at the fair by going through B-Line. This is just one example of how the energy of the Redd can be harnessed to help make connections and facilitate transactions between food producers and institutional buyers.

 

A man wearing a red cap and black chef's jacket prepares a piece of pork

Going Whole Hog Culinary Demo

Hosted by Chef Andre Uribe and Zack Agopian, this demo provided tips and considerations for purchasing and utilizing a whole hog, as well as a whole animal butchery demo tailored for institutional kitchens.

A small group of people gathered around a table, in conversation

PDX Metro Farm to School Procurement Hub Gathering

This second annual event brought together farm to school practitioners, advocates, and food producers in the Portland Metro region to increase the purchasing and promotion of delicious, culturally-relevant, nutritious local foods in school meals.

Partners

About the Redd on Salmon Street

Spreading across two blocks in Portland’s historic Central Eastside, the Redd is an Ecotrust development designed to support local food enterprises, connect chefs, foodservice directors and entrepreneurs to independent farmers, ranchers and fishermen in the region, and help scale a robust food economy across the Pacific Northwest. The Redd is quickly becoming an integral part of an ecosystem of new ideas around food system reform. Learn more.