Centennial Plaza

Round-Up is close
to reaching its
fundraising goal

The Pendleton Round-Up is about $100,000 away from its million-dollar goal for completion of the Round-Up Centennial Plaza in front of the rodeo grounds on Southwest Court Avenue. Committee chairmen Tim Hawkins and Mike Thorne have asked the public for help to meet the goal.

“We wanted to give everyone a chance to contribute to this exciting improvement,” Hawkins said. “The public has always shown its support for the rodeo and we hope this fundraising effort will be a success.

Thorne agreed. “Although times are tough, we’ve gotten so close to our goal because Round-Up is near and dear to groups like the Pendleton Foundation and various businesses,” he said. “We hope the people of this area will help us meet the goal.”

Jennifer Hawkins and Jill Thorne tackled fundraising for the project after their third attempt to receive funding for the plaza from the Oregon Department of Transportation was successful.  Both say the fundraising effort has been a fascinating journey.

“”It’s taken on a life of its own,” Jennifer Hawkins said. “I am so excited about the project. If you could just see the fence patterns the wrought-iron artist (Doug Gisi of Walla Walla) has created. He’s the same blacksmith Hamley’s used and he’ll twist himself to give you the project you envision.”

“In the beginning, Round-Up went to the community for fundraising to stage the first Pendleton Round-Up,” Jill Thorne said. “It feels natural to duplicate what was done 100 years ago. Supporting Round-Up is part of our culture.”

Round-Up welcomes donations of any size made payable to the Round-Up Foundation, P.O. Box 609, Pendleton, OR 97801. All donations will be honored publicly. In addition, those who donate $500 or more will be honored on plaques at the plaza. The bronze buckle plaque is for donations of $500-$999, the silver is for $1,000 to $2,499 and the gold buckle plaque in the plaza will feature those who have donated $2,500 or more.

Round-Up President Randy Severe is excited about the plaza and hopes the public will help in the fundraising effort.

“It is a perfect opportunity for the community to be involved in Round-Up,” he said. “It’s something the community will be proud of for years to come.”

In addition to ODOT funding and two grants from the Pendleton Foundation, Round-Up has also seen plaza donations from Swire Coca-Cola, Columbia River Bank, Pendleton Rotary, the Bishop family, Round-Up City Development, U.S. Bank of Pendleton, the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners, the East Oregonian, St. Anthony Hospital, the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce, Resource Team Study, Dan and Barbara Ceniga, the Wildhorse Foundation, the Safeway Foundation, MDU Foundation of Cascade Natural Gas and Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield.  The committee has also seen financial support from the Round-Up Association, past and present members of the board of directors and former court members.

In-kind and partial in-kind donations have been received from the city of Pendleton, Charter Communications and Gordon’s Electric.