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The Tillamook Swiss Society is a traditional arts organization dedicated to preserving Swiss customs in Tillamook County. “Each succeeding generation carries out the traditional activities of the preceding generation, thereby assuring the Swiss heritage will never be lost.” Jim Hurliman, Ernie Aufdermauer, Walter & Virginia Beeler are active members of the Tillamook Swiss Society. Their ancestors came to Tillamook County in the early 1900s. With a stalwart work ethic, all of the settlers came to dairy farm. Dairying, the Swiss language, Swiss foodways, and music traditions all became an integral part of life in the new territory that looked so much like Switzerland itself. For decades, Swiss “stomps” were popular at Grange Halls in the area. The music began no earlier than 8 in the evening, however, to give dairymen a chance to finish up in the barn. Milk and cheese production have been the lifeblood of Swiss dairyman in Tillamook for over a century. Most of the early farmers butchered and cured their own cow or pig. "Between sausage and home brew, I don't know what was worse,” Hurliman recounted. In some ways, the work routine is unchanged from the that of the first settlers; on the Beeler’s dairy farm, “We still make our own sausage [and] butcher our own animals. We’re still farming, milking cows, feeding calves—we have about 40 calves on our farm at the moment—and we all help. It's all family. It’s good.” With a new recipe cookbook just out, along with the Society’s annual participation in Tillamook’s Dairy Parade and Garibaldi Days, (with their own Joan Blaser playing polka music on her accordion surrounded by Swiss Society members in traditional dress) the Tillamook Swiss Society persists against changing times bringing valued traditions forward.