PENDLETON — Gov. Kate Brown canceled large events statewide Thursday morning, but some local event organizers already saw the writing on the wall.

Event coordinators canceled the 2020 Jackalope Jamboree on Wednesday, and Pendleton Whisky Music Fest followed suit Thursday, making its announcement before the governor had even finished her press conference.

Brown issued statewide stay-home orders more than a month ago to slow the spread of COVID-19, but she’s now considering county requests to reopen some businesses and hold gatherings of up to 25 people if they meet certain criteria. But the governor’s new directive is more stringent about large events like concerts, festivals, and sporting events, requiring a vaccine to be developed before those activities could resume and specifically targeting all large events through the end of September.

While some events were quick to announce the end of their 2020 events, the Pendleton Round-Up has been relatively mum.

The Round-Up Association and Happy Canyon posted a brief statement on social media Thursday saying they were “aware of the governor’s statements,” and would “provide a formal statement soon,” once they consulted with Umatilla County officials.

Round-Up and Happy Canyon haven’t pushed out any more public statements about the future of the 2020 rodeo since then, and the publicity directors for both organizations didn’t return phone messages requesting comment.

When contacted Friday, Round-Up General Manager Erika Patton replied by text that “we do not have a comment at this time.”

However, Patton told The Oregonian that the rodeo hasn’t made any immediate plans, and will continue to talk through next week before making an announcement about the future of this year’s event, scheduled to take place Sept. 16-19.

“We have stayed fairly positive in the whole digression. We’re going to try to continue to do that and plan accordingly,” Patton told The Oregonian. “A lot of people have been hopeful and just would really like to see this happen, for an economic purpose as well, it definitely helps our region.”

The association has already taken action on a couple of Round-Up-related events, if not the Round-Up itself, by canceling the Green Mile Barrel Race and Wagon Train events in June.

News on the Round-Up could come as soon as Monday, when Pendleton Bike Week consultant Bob Richards said the motorcycle rally would make an announcement about its July event in conjunction with the Round-Up. Richards said bike week intended to follow the governor’s orders, but declined to comment further ahead of Monday.

Whisky Fest is the largest event in Round-Up arena outside rodeo week, and organizers were quick to announce their plans.

In an interview, Whisky Fest cofounder Doug Corey said he preferred the term “rescheduled” over postponed or canceled because the event had already booked co-headliners Macklemore and Eric Church plus openers Randy Houser and Brett Kissel for July 10, 2021.

Corey said organizers were already anticipating Brown’s order by the time she made her announcement, and all the acts were quick to agree to a 2021 show.

Corey said it was disappointing, but the right thing to do during these times.

“It’s the best thing for the community,” he said.

Whisky Fest had already announced a sellout crowd by the time organizers rescheduled the concert, and Corey said everyone who bought a ticket for 2020 would have their ticket transferred to 2021.

Although Whisky Fest reserves the right to deny refunds for “an act of God, strikes, epidemics, and any act or order of any public authority or any cause,” Corey said Whisky Fest was committed to refunding any tickets for customers who couldn’t make the 2021 event.

Other county events, like the Umatilla County Fair, will likely have to be heavily modified to comply with the governor’s rules.

Commissioner Bill Elfering, the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners’ liaison to the fair, said he would leave the details of how the August event would operate this year to the fair board.

But he said that fair mainstays like the concerts, carnival rides and the parade through Hermiston would all have to be left out of the fair this year.

Elfering said some aspects, like the livestock show, may be able to continue with an added web presence. Fair Manager Angie McNally did not return phone messages requesting comment.

But throughout the state, Elfering noted how many of Oregon’s significant events were being postponed or outright canceled due to the coronavirus.

“We might as well take the calendar we know and throw it away,” he said.

For other organizers, creating a social distance-friendly event just isn’t feasible.

Anticipating nearly 1,000 people to attend the two-day event, Jackalope Jamboree cofounder Rian Beach said trying to enforce social distancing rules would have been “cumbersome” and trying to take on the extra costs of enforcing it “wasn’t in the cards for us this year.”

Despite the setback at Jackalope Jamboree, Beach wrote that the cancellation only made organizers “hungrier” to put on an event in 2021 and reiterated their commitment to growing the event in Pendleton.

Within the past five years, Pendleton has tried to use its existing tourism infrastructure — the 17,000-seat Round-Up Arena, the Pendleton Convention Center, an abundance of hotel rooms — to attract large events and expand tourism beyond the September rodeo. Across the county in Hermiston, local governments built the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center to host the Umatilla County Fair and bring in more events.

The fate of Umatilla County’s large summer events will ultimately have an influence on businesses in the area that rely on the yearly tourists that frequent the hotels and dine at the local restaurants.

And according to a survey conducted by Businesses Oregon, Travel Oregon and the Oregon Small Business Development Center, many of those businesses are already struggling due to COVID-19.

The survey, which was published Thursday, shows that 50% of tourism businesses in Oregon saw revenue decline by 90% or more in April. Another 88% of accommodation businesses, such as hotels, also reported a drop of at least 50% in revenue last month.

Businesses in general struggled more in rural Oregon than the rest of the state, with 45% of rural businesses reporting a temporary closure and another 3% reportedly closing for good.

The drop in tourism and travel has been especially hard on hotels. A Travel Oregon study showed both per-room revenue and occupancy were down significantly in late April for Eastern Oregon hotels.

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East Oregonian Reporter Alex Castle contributed to this report.