Join the Parade!
Saturday, July 18th 11AM to Noon
Be part of one of Dory Days’ most beloved traditions at the annual parade! This year’s theme, “Long May She Wave,” celebrates both the 250th anniversary of the United States and the enduring legacy of dory fishing in Pacific City.
How will you bring the theme to life? Stars and stripes on your float? Red, white and blue fish on your boat? However you interpret it, we can’t wait to see your ideas roll (or float!) down the route.
Parade Details
To participate, please check in at the parade staging area between 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM on Saturday, July 18, 2026.
Location: Tillamook County boat launch on Sunset Drive, Pacific City
Parade entries will line up in the order they arrive (excluding royalty and traditional dories)
Parking Note:Parking near the staging area is very limited. Please plan to carpool or park at Bob Straub State Park and walk over. We appreciate your help in keeping things running smoothly!
Grand Marshal, Rob Kleiver
This year’s Dory Days Grand Marshal, Rob Kleiver, has been part of Pacific City’s dory fishing tradition for more than five decades.
Rob first came to Pacific City in 1967, shortly after getting his driver’s license. At the time, his fishing experience was limited to trout fishing with his dad. That changed in the early 1970s when he joined Brad Foster aboard the Fosters Folly for his first dory fishing trip. The pair returned with a limit of coho salmon, and Rob was hooked.
In 1974, Rob and his father had a dory built at Pacific City Boat Works. Painted red and white and named Klevenger, it remains the only dory he has ever owned. More than 50 years later, he is still fishing from the same boat. Through countless repairs and four outboard motors, the Klevenger continues to carry Rob offshore—sometimes as far as 60 miles in search of tuna.
Rob’s connection to Pacific City grew beyond fishing. In 1978, he and his father purchased a beach cabin on Williams Avenue, creating a family home base along the coast. Over the years, his daughter made Pacific City her home as well, working at several local businesses before eventually purchasing the Oar House. In 2007, Rob built a home in Pacific City and began commuting to Dallas for work, finally realizing his dream of living full-time in the community he loved.
Rob has witnessed the highs and lows of the dory fleet, from the incredible coho seasons of the 1970s, through the closure of the fishery, and the excitement of its reopening in 2000. Through it all, he remained dedicated to the ocean, adapting to changing conditions and continuing to fish year after year.
Today, Rob reflects on what has kept him here all these years with a simple truth: “Dory fishing is what brought me here and what kept me here.”
Junior Dory Princess, Jocelyn Kellow
Jocelyn is a fourth-grade student at Nestucca Valley School and the daughter of Shelby and Nolan Kellow and granddaughter of Ron and Julie Kellow. She proudly represents the seventh generation of the Kellow family in the Nestucca Valley.
Dory fishing and boat building run deep in Jocelyn’s family history. Both of her great-great-grandfathers, from the Kellow and Schulmerich families, were talented wooden boat builders who launched their boats from Cape Kiwanda and fished both the Pacific Ocean and the Nestucca River. Her great-great-uncle, Howard Kellow, helped shape the future of the dory fleet when he designed and built one of the first square-ended dories launched from the beach, a design that transformed the traditional double-ended dory.
That tradition continued with her grandfather, Ron, and great-uncle, Wes, who helped design, build, and fish the famous Dark Star dory, a vessel that has become a familiar sight in Dory Days parades through the years.
Jocelyn has been part of the Dory Days celebration for nearly her entire life, participating in almost every parade since she was a baby. When she’s not celebrating her family’s dory heritage, she enjoys playing sports and excels as a student at Nestucca Valley School.
We are proud to have Jocelyn represent the next generation of Pacific City’s dory fishing tradition as this year’s Junior Dory Princess.
Senior Dory Princess, Ana Wehrley
Ana is a senior at Nestucca High School. She is the daughter of Molly Sears and Adam Wehrley and granddaughter of Mike and Pam Sears. She proudly represents the fifth generation of the Sears family in Tierra del Mar.
Ana comes from a family with deep roots in Pacific City’s dory fishing heritage. Her great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather, Jack and Brick Gilman, were respected dory builders and fishermen whose craftsmanship and dedication helped shape the local dory fleet. Her great-grandfather, Bill Sears, owned a sporting goods store in Pacific City and competed in the original Dory Derby races around Haystack Rock, competing alongside his brother, Ed Sears, in their double-ender dory, the Lois Ann.
One of the family's most treasured connections to the dory fleet is The White Cap, a dory built by Jack Gilman in 1975. The boat has proudly appeared in every Trick or Treat the Dory Fleet event and many Dory Days parades over the years. Today, it continues to be actively fished by the Sears family out of Pacific City, carrying on a tradition that spans generations.
