Let 'er buck--It's Round-Up time!

Check out the bling on my belt! I'm a real cowgirl now!
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Well it seems to be a running theme with this trip; we seem to find the rodeos! This town was no exception; every September, Pendleton hosts the (again, “world famous”) Pendleton Round-Up, a week long party (drink fest) complete with yes, rodeo, as well as shows, craft vendors and two, (count ‘em) two parades. It all began 98 yrs. Ago as a celebration on 4^th of July complete with bronc riding, horse races by Indians and Non-Indians, Indian feasts and war dances, greased pig contests, sack races, foot races and fireworks. To accommodate the farmers and ranchers the party was moved to the 2^nd full week of September, and has continued to be held every year at that time. Beginning on Saturday with what’s known as the “dress up parade”, the festivities continue until the next Saturday, everyday there is something for everyone. The population of Pendleton swells from 16354 to 4-5 times that during the week. In fact, in order to accommodate all the visitors and many come in travel trailers, the HS and a few of the elementary schools convert their grounds to a campground. So how does school stay in session, well guess what it doesn’t! Although the festivities are kicked off on Saturday, round-up doesn’t really get going until Wednesday. So, school is cancelled Wed, Thurs and Friday that week. In fact, it’s such a big event that many businesses (my work included) close on Friday. The characteristic slogan “Let ‘er Buck” is everywhere and said by many. (Remember, it’s ’er, not her). We enjoyed the sights and sounds that week including as mentioned the dress up parade, which is your typical main street USA parade, much like on the 4^th of July {marching bands, local businesses and yes, politicians kissing babies}. Other events throughout the week include Professional Bull Riding (PBR) on Monday and Tues. evening, which we attended on Monday night. The show begins with a laser show and fireworks which were really cool against the dark Oregon skies and includes some big names in rodeo, of which I couldn’t tell you who they were…. None the less, an entertaining night was had by all. Boy, that is a tough sport, talk about job security for me! In addition to the rodeo clown, one of the more entertaining moments was when one of the smaller bulls (who was spotted) came out and then just stopped bucking. The clown had to give him a little love tap to get him to resume (Guess the machine ran out of quarters, huh?) A friend of mine wanted to know who put a Dalmatian in the rodeo because of the bull’s small size and markings. Another festive event of the week is the Main Street Cowboy’s Show, where Main Street is closed off and set up complete with food, vendors and a carnival as well as different musical acts and variety shows that take one of 4 stages set up down the street. Yes, you can even ride the mechanical bull! The best part, it’s all free. The shows run from Tues – Saturday every night; Main Street is walking distance from our home, so we enjoyed several nights of entertainment.

Some of the local "vendors" at the dress up parade!
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Like I said, Friday tends to be a local “holiday” around these parts so we got to go enjoy the second parade of the week, that being the Westward ‘ho parade. In this traditional parade, there are no motorized vehicles allowed, the parade highlights the culture and tradition of the region including Native Americans, the Oregon Trail, farming and ranching. It was a great parade as the photos will show. On Saturday AM, a Native American dance pow wow contest is held whereby many men, women and children from local tribes including Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation - the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla Indians compete in beautiful dress, highlighting traditions in their families. (again check out the photos). Winners of the contest receive blankets from Pendleton woolen mills. (not too shabby)

Now these girls get to dress up like big girls..The queen and her court
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Round-up would not be complete though without the traditional Queen and her Court of princesses. These young ladies make all the events and get to wear lots of bling both on themselves and their horses. I’ve learned how to do “the wave”. Just hold up your hand in front of you, cup your hand and make figure 8’s with your arm, wrist is stiff, no wrist, just arm. Try it, you too could feel like queen for a day!

The biggest event of the whole week though is rodeo. From Monday –Friday during the day run the preliminary rounds, on Saturday are the finals. The opening of the rodeo includes the entrance of the queen and the court. They must jump the rails around the arena during their entrance. This year the queen didn’t quite have control and almost landed right in the stands as her horse kept going. It was embarrassing for her I’m sure, she had to jump off the horse, but thankfully was OK. It’s beautiful to see Old Glory run in on horseback, again the rider jumping the rails. Some F-16 (or something) jets flew overhead which added to the drama of the moment. We attended the finals with some friends of ours who used to be neighbors of ours back home in NH. Debbie, Ed and Allison moved to a suburb of Portland, Or. Last year (see previous post). Debbie and Allison came out for the Round-up and were able to attend their first rodeo on Saturday with us. Being the novices that we were, I was unable to explain all the details, nuances of saddle bronc, roping and the traditional milking contest, but thankfully a very cordial gentleman behind us did. For instance, I learned that the bronc rider has to come out of the shoot with his stirrups forward on the horse’s torso and demonstrate control, if not he’s penalized. And here I just thought it was about stayin’ on for 8 secs! Barrel racing is by far the favorite event. Some talented ladies out there riding, competing. Many participants at the Round-Up are not fans of the grounds here because part of the arena has grass (as you’ll see in the photos) and part dirt. {traditionally rodeo grounds are all dirt}. Here in Pendleton, round-up is held in the HS football stadium, hence the grass. From what I understand, grass is like oil to running horses, so it makes it very difficult for barrel racers to run across dirt, then grass, then dirt again, but that’s what training is all about, I guess.

Debbie (on left) and Allison enjoying their first rodeo. Check out the guy behind Allison hammin' it up for the camera. This was "Mr. Rodeo Information Guy"
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All in all, it was a really fun week. The weather ALL week was sunny, warm and comfortable. Yes, the traffic in town was not the most favorite part of things, but to us, being originally from NJ it was like being back in Bergen County again. That’s the traffic they live with on a daily basis. ---no thanks!

Enjoy the photos, there are many but it was so hard to leave out photos I really wanted to help you too enjoy the Pendleton Round-Up as much as we did.

D, R, Scooby and Bear.