Katrina Yentch

Katrina Yentch is a freelance journalist, editor, and copywriter living in Portland. When she isn't writing, she's either napping and cooking in the winter or paddling and backpacking during the summer.

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Chef Bonnie Morales prepares the cuisine of the former Soviet Union at Central Eastside eatery Kachka — the menu features savory meats, dumplings, cured fish and bright pickled vegetables, plus a selection of more than 50 vodkas.

Credit: Aaron Lee, Travel Portland

A Slavic & Eastern European Visitor’s Guide to Portland

Find food carts slinging pelmeni and blini, spend time soaking and enjoying nature in Portland’s temperate climate, and gather in Slavic community congregations.

Katrina Yentch

Katrina Yentch is a freelance journalist, editor, and copywriter living in Portland. When she isn't writing, she's either napping and cooking in the winter or paddling and backpacking during the summer.

From grocery stores to churches and traditional festivals, Portland is a hub for the Slavic and Eastern European community, one of the city’s largest immigrant refugee groups.

A Brief History of the Slavs in the Northwest

In the early 1800s, when Russia sold Alaska to the United States, it catalyzed a wave of Russian migrants who flocked south from the frosty Arctic state to warmer parts of the West Coast, including California and Oregon. 

Through the late 1800s and early 1900s, Poles, Croatians, Ukrainians and other Eastern European immigrants landed industrial jobs in the Pacific Northwest, overlapping with Armenians, Lithuanians, and other groups who later sought safety and opportunity outside their home countries. 

Fast forward to the early 1990s, when new immigration rules and the Soviet Union’s end brought more waves of the Slavic community to Portland. Many treated Oregon like a second home, since the Pacific Northwest’s fertile farmlands made it possible to feast on the same meals they ate in the motherland. Settling in East Portland, Gresham and Multnomah County, they nurtured community and connection through family-run farms, churches and businesses of all kinds. Today, you’ll interact with many second- and third-generation children of these Slavic groups, whose deeply rooted presence in Oregon has brought the area many home comforts that Slavic visitors will easily find during their time here.

Arts, Culture and Events

Churches and Religious Gatherings

There’s no shortage of Slavic churches in Portland for Orthodox, Protestant and other branches of Christianity, where visitors can continue their practices and connect with the community. 

Philadelphia Pentecostal Romanian Church and Betel Romanian Apostolic Church are among the largest churches for the Romanian community, while the Slavic Church Emmanuel in East Portland and the Slavic Evangelical Church Sulamita offer services in a mix of Eastern European languages. New Life Missionary Church is a non-denominational evangelical church with Russian language home groups. 

Church of Grace is an evangelical church where you can sit in on small groups led by Slavic and Eastern European community members. The non-denominational House of God Ministry is a church with 22 international branches, including a Portland location. This Russian-speaking church also follows Sabbath-keeping principles. 

Cultural Events and Celebrations

Religious institutions are a cornerstone of the Slavic and Eastern European community for celebrations like Pascha, Thanksgiving, Theophany and the Nativity of Christ. If you’re not here during one of these holidays, though, it’s easy to catch something fun happening at any given moment. The Portland Ukrainian Foundation hosts Ukrainian Day, with proceeds supporting humanitarian aid. D.A.W.N. also celebrates Ukrainian heritage through its robust calendar of events, like Ivana Kupala, traditional singing workshops and folk music festivals. The Multicultural Kids Festival, Portland Polish Festival, St. Mary’s Orthodox Church’s Romanian Festival and St. Stephen’s Serbian Festival fill the September calendar with activities, while student Russian clubs at local educational institutions like Lewis & Clark College, Portland State University and Portland Community College welcome the public to enjoy blini with them on campus during Maslenitsa. The Podkrepa Bulgarian-Macedonian Association also stays busy with similar events year-round.

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Credit: Krystyna Krygina

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Credit: Krystyna Krygina

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Credit: Jonnathan Kovch

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Credit: Jonnathan Kovch

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Credit: Tadzio Dlugolecki

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Credit: Tadzio Dlugolecki

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Credit: Tadzio Dlugolecki

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Credit: Tadzio Dlugolecki

Dance, Music and Slavic Culture

Podkrepa and Kyklos International Folk Dancers invite the public to bust a move on the dance floor with them at classes and festivals, the latter of which offer a huge variety of Eastern European styles. Lisova Pisnya is a community-based Ukrainian choir, and Chervona is an Eastern European party band that gets down at tiny local venues in Portland like the Star Theater and the Barrel Room. 

Markets are often gathering places for immigrant communities. This is especially true in Portland, where you can browse the aisles for home comforts while the tantalizing smells of freshly prepared pelmeni, steaming cabbage rolls and Khachapuri waft through the walls of Roman Russian Market, Imperial Euro Market, Good Neighbor Market, Cherry Hill Deli, Izobilie Euro Foods and Russian Elegant Food — which are just a handful of the dozens of Slavic grocery stores here. Located in the heart of the East Portland Slavic community, they’re mere steps away from each other, and churn out familiar fruits and veggies, butcher meats and cheeses on the regular. You might just spend a little extra time ogling the pastry case or the hot food section at Tanya’s European Deli, Babushka Russian Deli and Deli, and Anoush Deli & International Foods, who prepare sweet treats like decadent macarons and savory borscht daily.

Outdoors and Wellness

Portland’s forests, trails and parks will make any time spent outdoors feel like home, where our mild winters and dry summers feel similar to many Eastern European climates. For waterfalls galore and easygoing hikes, the Columbia River Gorge is your gateway to picturesque trails. 

In town, Portland is full of free scenic parks, where visitors can picnic with family and relax or go on a walk. Located right in front of major bus stops, Alberta Park, Overlook Park and Peninsula Park are just a few of the many public parks with children’s playgrounds — the latter of which has one of the city’s best-kept secret rose gardens. 

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Credit: NASHCO Photo

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Credit: Rick Dalrymple via Flickr

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Whitaker Ponds Nature Park is a special oasis that’s about a 10-minute walk from the TriMet bus line 75, where the Slavic Community Center of NW recently built a community space. Here, you’ll find thousands of native plants, a covered gazebo and a canoe launch on the lake, which connects paddlers to the 20-mile (32.2 km) Columbia Slough.

During the colder months, sauna and soaking experiences are at the intersection of outdoors and wellness culture in Portland, whether it’s an outdoor hot spring in the forest or a manicured sauna in town.