Tell me about Newberg (Portland, McMinnville: new home, neighborhoods, movie theater)

[PDXBound]

I have read some of the other threads on this forum about nice communities for families. Newberg/Dundee seems to come up often. I was hoping locals could share any and all info on these towns.... shopping, restaurants, schools, sports activites, family friendly, farmers markets, wineries, traffic....etc. Thanks!

[KarlaT2]

I'm a former Oregon native who also is interested in these areas. I did find online that there is a cute bistro/wine bar in Dundee. The Dundee Bistro
I lived over 20 years in Oregon, and never did venture too far past my hometown area (Molalla/Canby). Maybe that's why I was so bored and eager to move out of state. LOL.
Anyone have anything to share about Newberg/Dundee/Sherwood?

[chattypatty]

We have a farm 5 minutes from Newberg. Newberg is a rural small town with Hwy 99 serving as its "main street." I don't have kids in school but as far as I know, there are no big problems with drugs or violence. They have at least one public high school and a private Christian high school. There is a nice new Fred Meyers, lots of hardware and farming supply stores, etc, and a small movie theatre. It's not a cultured place so there aren't going to be a lot of restaurants, museums, or anything like that. George Fox Univ is there but it is a small Christian (Quaker) college rather than a university. There is also a brand new hospital there on Hwy 99 at the entrance to the city. You are minutes from Sherwood (a similar kind of place, only it has a huge metroplex theatre), and maybe 10 minutes from Tualatin, where you will find more shopping and restaurants.

Sherwood is a nicer community, I think, with lots of beautiful neighborhoods and new homes and the schools are great. There is also a beautiful YMCA there. Newberg is safe and fine and all that, but it does seem a bit seedy when you get back into the neighborhoods. The median income of Sherwood residents is much higher than Newberg.

[Sobefobik]

Dundee is a dive! DO NOT move there! Newburg isn't bad, but it's not the nicest place around Portland.

[lifes2short]

We live in Sherwood, but go to Newberg for various things. They do have a drive-in movie theater that shows first run movies, which is a lot of fun! When we were househunting, we nixed Newberg because of the schools. Just a personal opinion. They are getting some nicer restaurants, which is nice. The Painted Lady and The French Bear are excellent. They have a good dance studio, if that interests you. There is also a public pool in town. George Fox University is there, and is well regarded.

I much prefer to live in Sherwood, but Newberg does have its strong points.

[jm21]

Careful in Newberg....from substitute teaching there a bit, there are two fairly distinct sides to it. South of 99W seems to be a LOT worse off than the north side for some reason. The schools on the north side were significantly nicer, and the south side seems to be hit harder by the meth epidemic, aside from the south being a bit poorer overall.

McMinnville's where I grew up for the most part, in the same area, and I'd say a better bet for raising a family. Sherwood might be good too, but I don't know much about it.

Stay FAR away from Lafayette.

[Lee151]

All of the communities along Hwy 99W have traffic problems. Dundee is in the center of the traffic problem. I have to drive between them from Portland for work and I just hate going through Dundee. There is talk of a bypass or new road but it is all just talk at this point. Traffic slows up for miles as many people do live in these towns and work in Portland.

McMinnville probably has the least as you can bypass the downtown area. It is the farthest west and farthest from Portland. McMinnville is the biggest of the towns and has more stores, shops and restaurants. They are all near wineries.

Newberg is closer to Portland and you don't have to go through Dundee. There are some very nice homes in Newberg and some older that aren't. The downtown is trying to revitalize but many new shops don't make it.

[jm21]

Dundee has been a traffic problem for over 50 years. But it's easy to bypass if you know what you're doing (there are several ways, all easy, and hopefully no native will tell them to you). As there is not much impairment to natives and it would hurt many local businesses if they made a bypass...don't count on them doing something about it anytime soon. Same for the sherwood-tualatin hwy and I-5. I can usually get from SW Portland to McMinnville in 50 minutes or so during rush hour.

I wouldn't let the selection of shops or stores sway you one way or the other...there's few enough in any of those towns that you'll have experienced everything pretty quick. All the downtowns have shops go in and out pretty quick, as well as restaurants, wine bars, etc. Oregonians don't eat out or shop that much, and those towns don't get a whole lot of tourism outside the wine-tasters, so new places have trouble making it in the smaller towns.

[jekk]

WE want to move closer to our granddaughter who lives in Portland, but, we don't want to live in Portland. We are considering McMinnville, or Newburg. We are retired, so schools and/or traffic are not an issue. So, would like to know from locals which area would be better?

[hamellr]

McMinnville and Newberg are pretty interchangeable as cities in my opinion. Newberg has a denser central city area with lots of new construction on the outskirts.

McMinnville has new construction also, but is more spread out over old farmlands. I'd probably pick Newberg as you'll be closer to major hospitals.