Newberg Music Venues Meet to Plan Joint “Nashberg” Marketing Effort

NEWBERG, Ore. — On Friday, the doors to Bronco Kelly‘s opened an hour earlier than the standard 11 a.m. opening time. Owners and representatives from local music venues — including Clementine, Wolves & People Downtown Bar and Music Hall, Stoller Wine Bar | Newberg, Chehalem Valley Brewery, and the Chehalem Cultural Center — took seats in Bronco Kelly’s back room, served coffee and frittata from the bar and restaurant’s chef, Harvey Smith. Representatives from local marketing organizations Taste Newberg and the Newberg Downtown Coalition also walked in the door.

Kelly Koch, co-owner of Bronco Kelly’s, leaned against a pool table in the bar and addressed the crowd, letting them know why he and his business partners had called this meeting of what would otherwise be competitors.

“I think we’ve got really great things started here,” he said to the crowd of 15. “We have added half a dozen music venues in the last few years, and I think it’s important to get the word out further than just Newberg, because we’re on the brink of having something that no community in the Northwest has.”

Koch said that, with the growth of the music venues in Newberg, the town is well positioned to be a music capital of the Northwest and should start marketing itself as such.

Four Venues Have Opened Since March 2025

Bronco Kelly’s, which opened in September 2025 and routinely hosts three music acts per week, is one of several stages in town — and at least four within a few blocks. Stoller Wine Bar opened in March 2025 and hosts everything from singer-songwriter showcases to open mics. Clementine opened in March 2026 and consistently has three-plus acts per week on its large corner stage. Wolves & People’s downtown Music Hall and Bar, the youngest of the group, opened in June 2026 and hosts two to three live acts per week.

That’s not including the Chehalem Cultural Center’s larger live performances in the LaJoie Theatre, or Chehalem Valley Brewing’s consistent live music in its parking lot.

Newberg’s live music cup overfloweth, Koch said, and it’s time to let people know.

“We’re all spending a lot of money on bringing bands in,” he said. “I think we’re way better off working together to get a lot more people in town rather than one-offs. If we work together and say, ‘you can walk a four-block radius in a beautiful town, and Newberg has something for you,’ that’s an easy pitch. It’s like a mini Nashville.”

This became the crux of the conversation: the development of something the group is tentatively calling “Nashberg,” a play on the Tennessee music city known for a live music scene that spills into the streets on any given night. The goal is to create a passport of sorts, where attendees can get a “Ticket to Nashberg” stamped at each venue when they are checking out after purchasing food, drink, or entry to the concert. If they patronize every venue in a given weekend, they receive a branded T-shirt celebrating the accomplishment.

The plan is still in its infancy, but the venue owners seemed to agree on the overall strategy.

Part of the power of the budding Newberg music scene is the variety of venues. Bronco Kelly’s primarily hosts country music artists, but also Southern rock cover bands. Wolves & People, whose owner co-founded the annual Newgrass Bluegrass Festival, has carved a niche by primarily attracting bluegrass bands. Clementine has more contemporary music that spans genres like R&B, jazz, pop, and singer-songwriter. Stoller Wine Bar has hosted the singer-songwriter showcase Curio Poets several times, alongside other vocalists and classic rock bands.

While no bar has a specific genre, they have found niches that play well with the others.

“Not everyone wants to listen to country music all day,” Koch said. “So it’s a benefit that we’re all playing different genres and have different acts to support each other and appeal to different people.”

The timing is also ripe for the picking, Koch said. After opening fall 2025, Bronco Kelly’s saw significant turnout during the colder, wetter months of the year as residents and tourists alike were seeking shelter and entertainment without the draw of the outdoor wineries. He wants the community to capitalize on that, assuming that Portland-area residents may want something similar.

“Here’s the thing with this town,” Koch said. “They come out here all summer long for wine, and they spend the weekend. They stay in Airbnbs, they stay in hotels, and if they come out here and do that to drink wine, they absolutely will come out here and do that for a weekend of live music and events.”

Newberg as a Music Town

Katie McFall, interim executive director of Newberg’s destination marketing organization Taste Newberg, said the organization focuses on driving traffic during the shoulder season — generally September to November and January to April — outside the peak tourism season. While there is a near-guaranteed audience of visitors during the peak tourism season, the shoulder season is when most local businesses and hotels hurt.

“That’s what we’re looking to do — bring economic development to our community,” she said. “How do we keep people employed and businesses busy during the shoulder season and slower times?”

The name “Nashberg” is at least in part attributed to a new social media account, Nashberg Live, operated by Todd Williams and Jasmine Debolt, which gathers and promotes all of the live music happening in town in a given week on Facebook and Instagram.

Williams said that, from his perspective, the volume of venues will provide an added benefit beyond attracting audience members: reputation among regional musicians.

“Part of the idea behind Nashberg was, ‘this is going to work,'” Williams said. “There are too many creative people coming through for it to not work. And the more we become known in the live music industry as great places to play, the more we’ll have people talking about Newberg as a destination.”

The group hopes to launch the passport ticket system in November to test the downtown music venue crawl concept, followed by a celebratory block party in early 2027 after they’ve built interest.

“We all actually give a damn,” Koch said. “We’re trying — we’re not just throwing acts out there. We’re trying to get good entertainment for people, and I think people really like that.”

Disclosure: Newsberg owner and editor Branden Andersen previously served as the executive director and board president of the Newberg Downtown Coalition, which was represented at the meeting.