Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Oregon’s beloved cheese factory looks better than ever.

The Tillamook County Creamery Association cut the ribbon Tuesday on the new Tillamook Creamery visitors center, opening the doors of a sprawling 38,500-square-foot facility that opens to the public on Wednesday.



To help accommodate 1.3 million annual visitors, the new center – built in place of the old one at the factory’s coastal property – features a wide-open floor plan that transitions more smoothly between each part of the visitor experience.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Inside the doors, a large stairwell leads up to the viewing area above the factory floor, which offers a streamlined experience and gives more details about the cheese making process. Downstairs is a massive dining area with an expanded menu (fried oysters, pizza and a yogurt bar are nice additions), and a two-sided ice cream line that connects to ample outdoor seating. The new gift shop is huge, with plenty of room to roam among the cheese curds and Tillabars.

Even the name is new. The facility, always known as the Tillamook Cheese Factory, is now called the Tillamook Creamery, an effort to showcase a wider variety of dairy.

“We here in Tillamook have been calling it the creamery for a long time,” said Tori Harms, spokeswoman for the creamery association. After all, “we make more than just cheese here.”

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The new name also comes with a new font – emblazoned on signs and the side of the building – which Harms said will adorn all Tillamook packaging by 2019.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, calling the new visitors center a “greeting card” for tourists who have flocked to the cheese factory since it started production nearly 70 years ago.

The current production facility was built near the Oregon Coast town in 1949, adding an official visitors center 30 years later. In 1985, the Tillamook County Creamery Association expanded the visitors center by 2,500 square feet to accommodate what was then 600,000 annual visitors.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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The cheese factory itself has seen changes as well. In 1991, the association spent $10.5 million to modernize production, and in 2012 it laid off 47 factory workers, shipping most packaging jobs to plants in Idaho and Utah.

The overhaul of the visitors center suggests that the Tillamook Creamery is looking to cement its place as one of Oregon's most popular attractions for generations to come.



The Tillamook Creamery visitors center will open to the public on Wednesday, June 20. It will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and is located at 4165 U.S. 101 in Tillamook. Find more information at Tillamook.com.



--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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