<p>Top row, L-R: Larry Koehne, Scott Swanson, Kirt Skinner, Alan Berck. Middle row: Dean Groshong, Paul Gadaire, Ben Remington, Rod Theis. Bottom row: Bill Arrington, Mark Jaeger, Johnny Blagg, Scott Adams, Michael Swanson.</p>

The Main Street Cowboys colorful history is painted with more than the green and purple dye in their flashy threads. The group works for 10 months each year to fill Pendletons Main Street with musical and miscellaneous acts, plus food and artisan vendors, during Round-Up week.

The downtown wranglers garb used to include purple bow ties, horseshoe-stitched back jean pockets, and .45-caliber pistols, said Paul Gadaire, Main Street Cowboys office manager. Gadaire, who started volunteering with the group 20 years ago, said the pistols were before his time, and likely went out of style with changed gun laws.

In those days, they used to do a lot of things they dont do today, he said. But thats the way they were.

A group member purchased the original shirts from a Texas department store. These days, the Cowboys pay the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution to craft them with the same bright colors, so people who need help can spot the Cowboys.

The group has woven its story with tales of star-studded shows. Gadaire said the Cowboys wrangled Clayton Moore, the Lone Ranger, into and out of the city when he caused a stir in 1957.

He got inebriated one night and he was due to put on a show for the kids in the morning, Gadaire said. He was a little under the weather, so he wasnt going to come out and do anything. The Cowboys went out and opened his room up and packed him up for the airport and sent him on his way. He wrote an apology letter.

Singer Dennis Day and now-famous Las Vegas ventriloquist Jerry Falter have taken stage next to the downtown storefronts.

We dont have a lot of famous acts here because we cant afford big names, but weve had people like Rob Theis, show coordinator, faltered as he grasped for Reba McEntires name. He said the country artist performed in Pendleton in the late 1980s or early 1990s before rising to superstardom.

This years musical line-up boasts Bullet Creek, a Seattle country-rock band, and Tillers Folly, a world-renowned acoustic roots group. Other acts include cloggers, square dancers, a ventriloquist, hypnotist, magician and childrens theater.

The Main Street Cowboys fund the entertainment with $50,000 by renting benches bearing its namesake and advertisements purchased by donors such as local businesses and individuals.

My biggest thrill about Round-Up is watching all the families have fun down on Main Street, said Theis, a 27-year Main Street Cowboy. For me its just an absolute fantastic thrill.