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From paintings
to pate, high-end grocery will sit where gallery once was |
One of downtown Newberg’s
distinctive properties will receive a new tenant Aug. 1 as Gary
Buhler hands over the keys to Blue Trout Gallery to local couple
Jeff and Elizabeth Palmer.
The gallery will be open to visitors during this week’s First
Friday Art Walk, but will close for renovations shortly afterward
when the Palmers take over the lease.
“We’re looking at an upscale grocery, with meats and cheese and
other products you won’t find in other stores in town, and maybe a
little prepared food to go,” Jeff Palmer said. “We’re going to focus
on local products, organic where possible — a wine country deli.”
Elizabeth Palmer, a professional chef and graduate of the Culinary
Institute of America, will take the lead in choosing products for
the store.
“She’s the food connoisseur — I’m the lucky beneficiary,” he quipped.
But Palmer will also bring his own experience to the business. The
former vice-president of sales and marketing at Rex Hill Vineyards,
he plans to add a selection of Oregon wines to the grocery’s
offerings.
Still to be determined are a name and opening date for the grocery:
“We want to do things right and that means taking it slow,” Palmer
said.
Buhler, an art professor at George Fox University, has used the
gallery to display his own paintings and work by students and
colleagues since 1999.
“I’ve enjoyed it but I wanted to go to a smaller space and not do it as a
business anymore — to just have a studio instead of a gallery,”
Buhler said. “I haven’t chosen a site yet, but it’ll probably be in
Newberg, depending on what opens up. Ideally, I’d like to get
another old building and fix it up.”
Prior to becoming the brightly-colored gallery, the building at 111
S. College St. was the home of Riley’s Studio, a photography
business.
“Half of Newberg must have passed through here,” Buhler said. “I
got to know the Rileys because I’d bring in photos for them to
develop and wound up buying the building.”
Buhler added that he plans to retain ownership, leasing the building
to Palmer. |
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From
Aug. 1, 2007,
Newberg Graphic
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