PENDLETON — For the second year in a row, Pendleton Bike Week is canceled.

The organizers behind the motorcycle rally made the announcement on the event’s website.

“Due to COVID-19 and the mandated restrictions the official word has come down and unfortunately, as most anticipated, Pendleton Bike Week 2021 … and the Summer Chute Out III flat track race have been postponed until (the) third week of July 2022,” the website states.

In an interview, bike week owner Stuart Rice said the reasoning behind the decision was simple.

“Too many restrictions, not enough freedoms,” he said.

Rice said he was among the event organizers that met with Gov. Kate Brown’s office recently, but he said the staffers they spoke to seemed more concerned with another wave of COVID-19 that could hit the state in the coming months. He said some of the concepts that were discussed, like a 50% cap on audiences, wouldn’t be feasible for something like the bike week concert.

Founded in 2015, Pendleton Bike Week, along with Pendleton Whisky Music Fest, was among a slate of new events that were supposed to help drive tourism in Pendleton in the months leading up to the Round-Up.

A multi-day event that featured multiple rides, a classic rock concert, a vendor area and more, Pendleton Bike Week had some success in its early years. As interest in bike week began to flag, Rice, the owner of the Midway Bar & Grill in Hermiston, took over the event with the idea of revamping it. Among his ideas was moving the hub of the rally from the Pendleton Convention Center to the Round-Up Grounds and making the event more affordable.

But Rice has never had a chance to put his ideas into action. Organizers had to cancel the 2020 event because of COVID-19 and are now doing it again in 2021.

As it stands now, Pendleton tourism season offers a checkered calendar.

Some events, like the Jackalope Jamboree and the Pendleton Cattle Barons, are already committed to reviving their events with added safety precautions.

Whisky Fest still has its July 10 concert date on the schedule, but organizers are still waiting for more certainty from the governor’s office before they can feel confident in that date.

And Pendleton’s ultimate event, the Round-Up, is projecting confidence in holding a full event in September, although the details of how they will operate are still under wraps.

Despite a two-year gap, Rice said Pendleton Bike Week will not end permanently because of the pandemic.

The hope is that organizers can put on a full event in 2022 with the goal of putting on a rally free of COVID restrictions.

“We want to put on an event that we can be proud of,” he said.