Most Read Articles of 2016


The cricket food craze. Marijuana entrepreneurs. Adidas on the upswing. What better way to reflect on 2016 than re-reading the most popular stories of the year?

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Here are OB’s ten most-read magazine articles: 

10Are Insects the New Quinoa?
Portland is going through a cricket craze.  San Francisco has just one cricket flour company; PDX boasts three: Cricket Flours, Poda Foods, and Thinksect.

9. Board Moves: Directors Ramp Up Diversity and Accountability Initiatives
Demands for more diversity. Investor calls for greater accountability. Technology that creates as many threats as opportunities.

8. Sara Batterby Ventures Into Cannabis
Are people coming from out of state to make money on Oregon cannabis visionaries or carpetbaggers?

7. No Magic Wand
Years in the making, the affordable-housing crisis can’t be solved by developers alone.

6. Social Media Superstars
Marketing with these fast-moving platforms is no easy feat. Here are five Oregon firms that are #winning.

5. On a Bender
National chain stores in Bend outperform national averages. The retail sector here is growing faster than almost any other place in the state. What’s driving the boom? 

4. Ziba Designs — Redesigns Itself
As design becomes an essential part of business strategy, a Portland icon flips the script — and makes business an essential part of its design strategy.

3. Second to None? 
How Adidas aims to beat Under Armour and catch up with Nike. 

2. A Toxic Tale
The business community responds to growing concerns about air quality. 

1. Can Eugene Sell Itself — Without Selling Out? 
A development boom is reshaping Eugene. Could this be the end of the city as we know it?


For good measure, here are three contenders that might have made the Top 10 if they had been posted earlier in the year.

After the Quake
Post-Cascadia, will Bend replace Portland as Oregon’s economic engine?

Pushing the Boundaries: Tech and Sex Workers
New business models reframe age-old debates about entrepreneurialism and exploitation in the sex industry.

Four Under Forty
Profiles of four rising nonprofit stars: Spartan Boxing Gym’s Troy Wohosky, Portland Homeless Family Solution’s Brandi Tuck, Oregon Walks’ Noel Mickelberry and EUVALCREE’s Gustavo Morales.