Wow, Pendleton, what a celebration! We could not have done it without you. Thank you. So what really happened the second week of September? That little blip on Roy Raley’s map got a heck of a lot bigger.
Coming into Round-Up week held great expectations. Four years of planning by the Round-Up Association culminated in plain, old hard work in those last weeks leading up to the event to prepare for crowds that, in the end, exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Community-wide participation in the Centennial Committee was one key to the realized success. Priming and primping by the city and many of you was clearly noticeable. Folks at Zimmerman’s and Sherwin-Williams noted an increase in paint sales. I heard the Rent-A-Center could not keep enough beds in store for the demand to accommodate anticipated visitors. Estimates of nearly 100,000 visitors to town may never be fully verified, but I do know almost 90,000 folks came to sit in the Happy Canyon and Round-Up arenas during the week.
And what a perspective the sea of blue Cycle Oregon tents gave as we looked north past the Round-Up Grounds and Indian Village.
Not even the recent fall rains have settled the dust from that week. Newspaper and magazine articles still are mentioning the Centennial Round-Up. The new era communication of Internet blogs pop up weekly, if not more often, detailing a family’s or individual’s visit to Pendleton. In casual conversations and telephone calls from friends, the subject of the week — the crowds, the excitement, the fun, the tradition and the heritage — still come up.
The crowds were beyond expectation and put the test to all the improvements at the Round-Up Grounds. The two million pounds of steel that make up the Centennial West grandstand passed the ultimate test. The personal effort of the Round-Up directors to reconfigure and upgrade the east end provided just a little improvement for the Dust Bowl crowd, which, by the accounts of some, is still the best seat in the house for up-close race track action and a full view of the jets that made everyone pump their fists in excitement and honor.
The Round-Up still has some work to do. The first step was taken this year and now we know what we can accomplish.
Folks from around the country, if not from around the world, found out Pendleton is a community that has much to offer. One Cycle Oregon participant confided in me that visiting Pendleton during Round-Up week was a “welcome escape from the political and cultural ideals” of the Willamette Valley. Others stayed over after Round-Up to make sure they got a sense of the heart of our community by visiting Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, Heritage Station and the Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame. We didn’t plan it that way, but Round-Up was almost two weeks long — at least in the eyes of some who visited.
It wasn’t just the tourist that finally figured out what Pendleton is all about. More than 850 professional rodeo cowboys and cowgirls, male and female horse racers and wild cow milkers came with some trepidation that adding 250,000 pounds of new aluminum seating would change Pendleton for the worst. They found out otherwise. We still used a majority of 110 tons of donated hay to feed their horses; invited them to the renewed family barbecue in the Round-Up Arena as our guest; and put them before 65,000 screaming fans to make the experience of competing on the famed grass arena the best that rodeo has to offer, bar none. Add Thunder Dome to Dust Bowl and there isn’t a backyard like it anywhere.
Expectations were exceeded everywhere. The 100 American flags that filled the streets during the Westward Ho! Parade still can bring a tear of memory for the toughest and bravest that have walked among us. Even the skeptic that thinks our country is headed in the wrong direction couldn’t resist seeing who was carrying those flags side-by-side. Clearly Pendleton was of one mind at Round-Up. How about the estimated 1,500 head of horses that trailed behind those flags that kept the crowds street-side almost all morning? Then, the serpentine in the Round-Up Arena with those same flags just before Buck Off — I never would have imagined you could get 558 horses to be that calm.
Yep, it was quite a week and, just for the record in case someone asks you, it ended with 50 truckloads of stall cleanings (that is manure to most of us) being hauled off the Round-Up Grounds on Sunday morning. Even Sheriff John Trumbo heaved a sigh of relief when the accounting was done with only 168 folks lodged in the county jail for the week — 11 less than the year before. Everyone had fun and they were safe doing it.
Up next, 101 years of Western tradition. I was excited for this year and just a little disappointed that it all had to end in one short week. But we get to do it again and we cannot do it without each of you. From my view there is not a community anywhere that could pull off what we all did in 2010, and I hope you are all there to help in 2011.
Thanks a
gain Pendleton, from the Pendleton Round-Up Board of Directors — and Let ’er Buck!
— Carl Culham, Pendleton Round-Up publicity director
This letter taken from the East Oregonian High Notes and Foot Notes. Wednesday, October 27,2010
Category: Events, News & Updates, People & Volunteers, Visiting Pendleton
Request a wine spritzer at your own peril
