PENDLETON — American Indian history, the Wild West, someone getting both their legs sawed off — these are normal scenes from the annual Happy Canyon Night Show, which brings thousands of spectators Wednesday through Saturday of Round-Up week for a night of arena-shaking action.

With nonstop action, the play has an excessive number of moving parts. The legions of volunteers and dedicated staff, many of whom have passed their roles down generations, are the only ones standing between chaos and a successful, safe show.

“A big part of this is improv and rolling with it,” said Rylan Still, a second-time volunteer who will be acting as part of the fire crew scene and assisting with the undertaker.

Any number of unexpected things can happen with roughly 750 participants involved, from someone missing their cue to a horse acting up. The show can be pure pandemonium, but many feel passion and love for the big presentation.

Still, who watched his dad act as a part of a now-retired scene, loved the show since he first saw it and knew he wanted to be a part of it. His favorite scene, outside of his dad’s, was when the firefighters came to rescue someone from a burning building. This year, he was excited to play his favorite part.

“I’m going to do it as much as I can,” he said. “It’s so fun.”

This excitement runs through the volunteers and staff like an electric cord, all the way up to the Happy Canyon Board of Directors. It would undoubtedly be difficult to find someone more exhilarated when the show rolls around every September than Becky Waggoner, director of the Happy Canyon Night Show.

“I love it with all my heart,” Waggoner said, answering questions between a never-ending onslaught of greetings, thanks and congratulations to what seemed like nearly everyone involved.

“We’re a family,” she said.

She’s not wrong. Most involved, such as Still, have family members who brought them into the mix. Waggoner’s own roots in the show run deep. Her great grandfather played the show’s first sheriff in 1914, while her grandfather and father were both show directors. As the first female director, Waggoner lives and breathes Happy Canyon. She loves it so much, she even published a book in 2016 about it titled, “Happy Canyon: A History of the World’s Most Unique Indian Pageant and Wild West Show.”

According to Waggoner, the original event began in 1914 when Roy Raley created the original Wild West segment, later enlisting the help of Anna Minthorn Wannasay, whose father was Chief Yellow Hawk (Petamyo-mox-mox) of the Cayuse, to help write the Indian portion.

Together, the pair crafted a historically accurate tale about life for the Columbia River Plateau Indians before pioneers arrived for the first half, and a rambunctious, roiling Wild West second half.

This, for many, is an opportunity to see and learn about something that isn’t always taught in schools or highlighted in history textbooks. The three tribes of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla that make up the modern Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, had long and rich history before the pioneers came.

The show encapsulates this story and includes many of the descendants of those who participated in the actual events depicted and is “truly authentic,” Waggoner said.

“The moccasin footprints are now six generations deep,” she said.

Minthorn Wannassay’s granddaughter, Mitzi Rodriguez, has participated in the show for 10 years in the welcome dance and Lewis and Clark scene and was a recipient of this year’s Happy Canyon Appreciation Award. Ingrid Selmer, who has done the show’s makeup for 31 years, also was recognized for her work.

In one infamous scene, known as the “Shorty Scene,” a man named Shorty gets shot in the legs by bank robbers and a doctor, played by Jason Hill, and a nurse, played by Waggoner herself, must remove both his legs.

Hill took over the doctor role from his own father, Fritz, and this year, after acting in the scene for ages, Waggoner and Hill are teaching the next generation. Hill will be passing it off to Andrew Porter while Waggoner will be giving it to her daughter, Kaleigh Johnson.

However, they will be transitioning over the next couple of years, because “Jason and I love it too much to give it up right now,” Waggoner said.

“It means so much to me that she would want to do it,” she said. “Not only does it continue the tradition but I’m so honored that she would continue the legacy of our family.”

Brock Johnson, also a member of the fire crew scene and who happens to be married to Waggoner’s daughter, had seen the Happy Canyon Night Show only once before but jumped in to act this year for the first time.

“It’s a part,” he said, “of being in the family.”