PENDLETON — The advertising for Pendleton Comes Alive is not subtle.

“Let’s get wild in Pendleton” states a poster now circulating, which also encourages visitors to “Spend your Saturdays in the Wild West.”

Bolstered by a two-year, $400,000 contribution from the city government, Pendleton Comes Alive is a tourism initiative meant to restoke visitor interest in Pendleton as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wind down. A collaboration between the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce, the Pendleton Downtown Association, the Round-Up and other tourism interests, the effort intends to make Pendleton a tourism destination by packing Saturdays from June 5 to Sept. 4 with events and attractions.

Among the new additions are horseback rides, Wild West shows, tours of the Pendleton Round-Up Grounds and live music on Main Street. The concert series will start on Saturday with country musician Cale Moon.

Members of the various groups involved in Pendleton Comes Alive gathered on the 400 block of South Main Street on Thursday, June 3, to spruce up the area and do some tree trimming with the help of Eastern Tree Service.

Once the work was done, they met at the Rainbow Cafe for a celebratory meal, where they spoke about their collective efforts.

Kristen Dollarhide, the manager of Travel Pendleton, said the idea behind Pendleton Comes Alive is to take advantage of Pendleton’s existing infrastructure rather than reinvent the wheel. With access to amenities like horses and Western equipment, many of the new attractions weren’t too difficult to put together.

Dollarhide said the Portland metro area is one of their target audiences, looking to reach a set of tourists that aren’t hesitant to travel to Bend, which is roughly the same distance from Portland as Portland is to Pendleton.

This is one of the first big projects for Tim McFendtridge, the new director of the downtown association.

A Pendleton resident since 2001, McFetridge said he spent most of those years in banking, his most recent stint being a position at Banner Bank. Laid off during the pandemic, chamber CEO Cheri Rosenberg reached out to McFetridge to solicit his interest in the newly open downtown association position.

While McFetridge and company are excited for the new initiative, it comes at a challenging time for Umatilla County. Despite a sustained decrease in COVID-19 cases statewide, the county continues to see a relatively high number of daily cases while its vaccination rate remains low.

One county official speculated the county’s vaccination rate may influence tourists’ travel decisions.

In a Umatilla County Board of Commissioners meeting this week, Commissioner Dan Dorran said tourism likely will take a hit because of the county’s low vaccination rates.

“I can guarantee you that tourism in Umatilla County or Pendleton or any area, there’s going to be people that use that vaccination percentage as a yes or no if they’re going to visit that area,” he said.

Dorran added he wants to see immunization rates increase “as quickly as possible” to spur the county’s reopening and quell pandemic-related fear.

Only 24.1% of Umatilla County residents are fully immunized against COVID-19, the lowest percentage in Oregon, according to an Oregonian/OregonLive database. The county has consistently reported some of the lowest vaccination rates per capita since February, according to state health data, and officials say demand for shots is only dwindling.

Dollarhide said Multnomah County’s high vaccination rate may aid in boosting tourism in Pendleton. While vaccinated tourists may not be comfortable traveling far out of state for a vacation, they may look to shorter trips like Pendleton.

Pendleton Comes Alive organizers said they’re already starting to get attention from other communities and tourism organization for their ambition.

Rosenberg said it was an opportunity to help Pendleton stand out.

“We’re on the hot seat,” she said.

— Reporter Bryce Dole contributed to this article.