OCVA’s vintage Airstream “Stella” was on the scene of the Holy Toledo! vanlife and overlanding rendezvous, held on the Yaquina River & Bay in Toledo on July 20 to 24.
Stella is an ambassador for OCVA’s Oregon Ocean Cluster Initiative (OOCI), whose goal is to support coastal communities and build a more resilient and robust regional food economy. OOCI focuses on enhancing the use of local sustainable seafood in small businesses through infrastructure investments, workforce training, and partnership development.
For her inaugural season, Stella has been on the road promoting local producers and increasing the availability of seafood and aquaculture products in our coastal communities. She made her debut at Waldport’s Beach, Bike, and Blues event in May, and will appear again at The People’s Coast Summit in October.
At Holy Toledo, Stella hosted demonstrations and workshops from Alanna Kieffer of Shifting Tides and Oregon Seaweed, Chef Maylin Chavez of Nácar Oyster, and Aaron and Jacob from OoNee. Holy Toledo participants also had the chance to sample gazpacho made by The Buslife Kitchen and local catch cooked up by Chef Sarah from Wildflower’s Kitchen.
At Stella, the 261 Holy Toledo! attendees could pre-order seafare from Chelsea Rose Seafood to cook with during the event. The OOCI team also highlighted local shelf-stable products for attendees to use throughout the weekend, demonstrating the value of keeping Oregon seafare ingredients on hand as pantry staples.
Keep an eye out for Stella as she travels the People’s Coast, sharing the amazing bounty of Oregon seafare with everyone she meets.