South Tillamook County kicks off the holiday weekend fun with Clover’s Day, including a parade, a fun run, a vendor fair, a milk chugging contest, live music from The Radio Riots, and a cow named Clover.
For 44 years, the small town of Cloverdale has shut down Highway 101 for one day in early summer. The parade rolls through at 11. The fun run kicks off at 8:30. Vendors line the street with food, crafts, and local goods. The Lions Club grills hotdogs. The Senior Center scoops ice cream. There’s a milk chugging contest, a petting zoo, live music, and at the center of it all, a cow named Clover. It’s the kind of small-town celebration most places don’t have anymore. We’re keeping it alive.
8:30 AM – Fun Runm 2-mile walk, 5K, and 8K. Starts at the Cloverdale Bridge.
10:00 AM – Vendor Fair & Open Shops; Booths along Hwy 101 through 2 PM.
10:00 AM – Live Music -nThe Radio Riots play through the afternoon.
11:00 AM – The Parade (see route below) – Staging at Nestucca High School at 10 AM. Rolls through Cloverdale at 11.
2:00 PM – Fair & Music Close; Vendors pack up, music wraps.
Clover’s Day Parade Route
2026 Grand Marshalls – Nancy & Gordon Whitehead
We met freshman year at Reed College in Portland in 1968, Gordon coming from Chatham, VA, and Nancy from Ashland, OR.
After teaching in Idaho, Virginia, and Portland, we moved to the coast for jobs at Neskowin Valley School, then worked in Nestucca schools, for a total between us of 53 years teaching.
We bought 5 1/2 acres in downtown Hebo in 1990. We’ve spent the last 36 years planting to shade the water for the salmon going up Three Rivers, and growing vegetables and ornamental gardens near the house, with an emphasis on native plants that support wildlife systems.
We have two sons and two grandsons who are our delights. We love seeing our students — and their children! Working as the South County Celebration of Language and Literacy since 2002, we give books to children at the Tillamook County Health Centers, the ESD, food pantries and community events — like Clover’s Day!
Nancy’s work with the Library Club and Library Foundation since 2012 has her excited about the new library branch — and all the other improvements in Beaver. Cloverdale is beautified and thriving. Hebo is waiting patiently for its turn, as a friend recently put it.
