Shari Newman had a vision, and the pandemic helped bring it to life. The owner of Nicoletta's Table and Marketplace is holding festivities to kick off the opening of the restaurant's revamped Italian marketplace — typical to what folks might find wandering the streets of Italy. From Sept. 9-12, the downtown Lake Oswego restaurant organized the Harvest Festival, offering live music, tastings, special speakers, and food celebrations.

"It's always been somewhat of a vision, but COVID made it more so because we had to pivot to more to-go items. And people were wanting that, and (we wanted to) just to address the need in the community for something like that," Newman said. Nicoletta's Table has always had a market next to its dining space, but now those offerings have expanded, and the business has undergone a remodel.