MISSION — A new market has opened, bringing fresh food, local products and tribal entrepreneurship together on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Wildbill Market officially opened its doors on June 16 with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting, marking the debut of a locally owned, Indigenous-founded grocery store serving residents of the reservation and the surrounding community.
The market, located at 46440 Kusi Road, offers a variety of fresh foods and locally sourced products, including eggs from Rez Chicks, whole milk in half-gallon glass bottles from Catherine Creek Creamery, sourdough bread from Vault 19, smoked salmon dip from Brigham Fish Market and more.
The opening drew community members and supporters who gathered to celebrate the launch of a business rooted in local ownership and cultural values.
Klamath Tribes member Shoshone Wildbill, founder of Wildbill Market and food sovereignty initiatives project manager for the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, said there is a need on the reservation for a grocery store that sells staple foods.
“I’ve worked in food sovereignty for the last 10 years, which kind of pushed me into growing a grocery store and now that’s transitioned into a Native food hub,” Wildbill said. “The idea is to not only have products that I produce, but also a storefront and space for Native food producers to sell their products.”
Alongside household grocery essentials, Wildbill Market carries products from regional vendors to support local producers and strengthen the local economy.
The store also featured jars of honey produced by Wildbill, who launched the product through her beekeeping operation. The market also carries locally produced whole milk in reusable glass bottles.
“There’s a $3 deposit on the bottle,” she said. “When you bring it back, it’s only $5 for your next gallon or half-gallon of milk. The idea of reducing and recycling, I think, plays into that reciprocity for the land and for all of the foods that we eat.”
For customers seeking Native products, the store labels items from Native food producers throughout the market. Among them is a nonalcoholic sparkling rosé made by David Harrelson, a Grand Ronde tribal member who recently began producing his own wine. The beverage was featured during the opening ceremony and will remain available on store shelves.
The store also carried hot sauce products from Sakari Farms, an Alaska Native-owned business based in the Bend area.
With its doors now open, Wildbill Market aims to provide fresh groceries while elevating the work of tribal producers and local entrepreneurs. Beyond the brick-and-mortar, Wildbill said she also plans to use social media to highlight Native food producers and their products, helping customers learn more about traditional and regional ingredients.
“I would like to use my social media as a way of saying, ‘This is how you would prepare this food,’ or ‘You can use this ingredient in this way,’” she said. “So it’s not only promoting the producer and the product, but also educating on how you can expand your palate.”
Wildbill emphasized that the interest in food sovereignty is growing in Native communities and that tribal nations should play a larger role in shaping their own food systems.
“You can make your own food, and we can rely on each other to create this food system as a community,” she said. “That’s really the message I want to get across.”
Wildbill Market is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Customers can also follow Wildbill Market on Facebook and Instagram for updates on new Native products and featured vendors.
