Alpenrose Dairy is a dairy company located in the Hayhurst neighborhood of southwest Portland, Oregon, since 1916. It has been in the Cadonau family for several generations and was named after the alpine rose by the Swiss-born wife and early co-owner of the dairy. The grounds of the dairy include:
Circuit d'Alpenrose, a velodrome, one of only 25 such tracks in the United States. The track was built to host the 1967 National Championships. At 268.43 meters around with a radius and a 43-degree bank, Alpenrose is one of the steepest velodromes in the country. Alpenrose is home to the only North American Six-day race. It hosts races all summer, and annually draws the largest velodrome crowd in North America for the Alpenrose Challenge, in mid-July.
Dairyville was added to Alpenrose sometime in the 1960s. As stated above, the replica frontier town consists of a few streets of false front stores, a doll museum, an ice cream parlor, a music shop and a 600-seat opera house. The theater's pipe organ was salvaged from the Portland Civic Auditorium. Dairyville is typically open to the public on holidays and during the summer months. For decades, Dairyville has hosted an annual holiday event called "Christmas in Dairyville." In addition to a gift shop and a house where children can have their photos taken with Santa Claus, there's also "Storybook Lane," an elaborate, walk-through attraction. Visitors wander through a snowy, moonlit mock-village inhabited by farm animals and displays based on Mother Goose's fables. The attraction also includes a tiny fire stationfor kids to play in. Elsewhere on the property, choir groups from local schools perform. Dairyville's opera house also hosts nightly screenings of comedy shorts featuring The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy, along with more contemporary entertainment like the 2004 film adaptation of The Polar Express. The event ended its annual run in 2005 but returned again for the 2011 Christmas season.
Lawsuit
On March 4, 2019, a lawsuit was filed in Multnomah CountyCircuit Court by three members of the Cadonau family against two other family members, alleging they are planning to sell the dairy and immediately stop all community events at Alpenrose. The family has since settled differences and dropped the lawsuit.
