It’s been a great media month so far for Hotel Monaco Portland.  Last week, the March issue of Travel + Leisure hit the stands and Hotel Monaco’s Mini DaVinci package was included as the “great deal” in Portland.  This morning,  “The Today Show” interviewed T+L’s editor on planning family summer getaways and the Hotel Monaco’s Mini DaVinci package was featured as a great family package available on the West Coast.

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ideabox – bringing lifestyle back to housing.

If you didn’t get the chance to make it out to the Expo Center for the Portland Home & Garden show this past weekend, here’s your second chance to see the ideabox!  This KOIN Keep it Local segment will give you a peek into the modern, energy and resource efficient pre-fab firm known as ideabox. This is a very cool discovery for the urban, eco-conscious homebuyer and all the homes are made right here in Oregon! We were really excited to work with Owner Jim Russell on this project!

To learn more about ideabox or to check out more of there model homes click here.

When in Portland, do as the Portlander’s do!

It’s no secret that Portland locals have been embraced biking as a way of life, and there’s truly no better way for visitors to experience this unique aspect of the city than by hopping on two wheels. It’s been three years since we worked with the Hotel Monaco Portland to create the Carless Vacation Package – a hotel package that frees guests of the need for a car – and since the hotel has started building their fleet of complimentary guest bikes.

Now three years later, the Hotel Monaco Portland is not only one of the city’s leading green hotels (Silver Tier Green Seal certified), but it continues to give visitors a memorable and lasting experience… the chance to bike Portland.

This month, National Geographic Traveler features the Hotel Monaco Portland in their March 2010 issue on “Great Bike-Friendly Cities.”

Yesterday, Portland’s own tea smith, aptly named Steve Smith, gave KOIN Keep it Local host Araksya an insiders look into his new tea line Steven Smith Teamaker.  Watch as Smith, founder of Stash Tea and Tazo Tea, takes viewers on a tour of the Smith Teamaker small batch facility and tasting room in Northwest Portland, where he shows Araksya how to blend (and slurp) tea.

Click here to view the segment.

Keep It Local Host Priya David visited Chef Dustin Clark at Wildwood Restaurant and Bar last week to get some tips on creating more upscale small bites for the Superbowl.  To view the segment on KOIN’s website click here.

Monday’s Tasting Table eblast turned the spotlight on jerky, and featured none other than Portland’s own Adam Sappington of The Country Cat Dinnerhouse & Bar.  How does Adam do it?  It’s all about the salt, celery seed, chile and molasses marinade.  The article’s below.

Tasting Table highlights the resurgence of the ’settler’ lifestyle.  For those of you who didn’t catch the Sunday NYTimes’ Style section, there’s another lifestyle trend that’s coming on the scene – the caveman lifestyle and it’s hunter gatherer, prehistoric values. Read it here.  Thoughts?

Watershed’s recipe for getting a small, Portland neighborhood restaurant into the New York Times.

Ingredients:

1 passionate sommelier

5 curious local wine writers enjoy a natural wine tasting at Tabla

1 great local story.  Natural wine positioning in motion.

2 PR pros with well connected, strong freelance writer friends

1 fantastic August evening hanging out with Hannah Wallace as she researched her way through Portland, Ore.

The result speaks for itself.

We know that there are tons of small neighborhood businesses that are as passionate about wine and food as Michael.  We’d love to share our ingredients to success with you.

Congrats Michael, Tabla and Hannah!

Click here to read the piece, and if you haven’t already, check out Michael’s natural wine list at Tabla.

Amazing review of Wildwood Restaurant & Bar by Downtown Monthly Editor Janet Filips!  She hit on all of Wildwood’s great offerings – seasonal food and drink with a warm atmosphere.  As we are sad to see that this is the last issue of the Downtown Monthly, we are happy to see this section close with a review of one of Portland’s most well-known and well-loved restaurants.

The Oregonian shares our Watershed Moment.

True to our approach, this strategic article on Steven Smith Teamaker for The Oregonian was well in the works before we even wrote the press release announcing Steven Smith’s return to the tea market.

While we’ve been planting long-term seeds for national media coverage, we were also shaping breaking-news stories for top local media.  At Watershed, we believe it’s  important to give local writers access to local business stories first. Why you ask? Because often they have a deeper understanding of the people and culture behind locally-based businesses, and that insider perspective can help  shape the conversation for future stories.

Great work Leslie! We love your angle. This is a great foundation story to Steven Smith Teamaker, and just the beginning…