Midway through the Pendleton Round-Up’s 110-year history, a Eugene, Oregon, newspaper said, “In good times and bad, Pendleton has gone on with the Round-Up. People over on the Umatilla have always been willing to take a chance. Maybe that’s the real cowboy spirit. Maybe it’s a little bit tougher brand of civic spirit. Anyhow, in Pendleton, the show goes on.” And it always has. But unfortunately due to the current concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, the chutes will not open in Pendleton this year.
The Pendleton Round-Up announced today that the event has been canceled for 2020. In an official statement shared this morning, the rodeo committee wrote:
We are devastated to share this news with you. “Let’er Buck” & “On with the show” is in our DNA, and for only the third time in our history our September event will not take place. The decision to not host the world famous Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon 2020 event was a really tough one, but a necessary one. We are comforted knowing our community is not being put in harm’s way with the novel coronavirus, for that would be a burden we could not bear.
The committee goes on to point out that this event has been not only been a joint community celebration and effort, but also a revenue generator for the town of Pendleton, and the LET’ER BUCK CARES fund has been established to help local businesses and organizations affected by the cancellation. Ticket holders can also redirect their refunds to support the fund. To find out more on refund options and LET’ER BUCK CARES, click here.
For 110 years the Pendleton Round-Up and for 104 years the Happy Canyon have been a celebration of community and a catalyst to support education, local not for profits, service organizations, and provide a direct benefit to the regional economy.
A donation fund coined LET’ER BUCK CARES was established to support and benefit the various community organizations. These organizations have relied on the week of Round-Up and Happy Canyon as their main source of income to support their causes and further their missions of support to the community. The Pendleton Round-Up and the Happy Canyon will invest in the fund to create and establish the fund for the community benefit to assist with the impacts of not having the 2020 traditional events.
The LET’ER BUCK CARES fund will allow all 2020 ticket holders and supporters the opportunity to provide assistance to these organizations during the upcoming year. Through the LET’ER BUCK CARES fund, ticket holders will have four options for their purchased 2020 tickets.
In closing the committee says:
So far in 2020 we have endured many tragedies, which reminds us what was penned about the Pendleton Round-Up in 1911: “When things do not go right for you, when circumstances seem to be against you and fate deals you a blow between the eyes, remember, what the cowboys say in the great Northwest. Just grit your teeth, get another hold…and Let’er Buck!”
Through the support of this fund, the community will be able to support the organizations that are an integral part of the success of the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon.