The Pendleton Round-Up wraps up each day of competition at 5 p.m., but the night life gets rolling with the Happy Canyon Night Show and then Goldie’s Bar at the Canyon.

The Night Show features locals playing roles handed down to them through seven generations and authentic regalia up to 200 years old. The century-old pageant begins with the lives of American Indians on the Columbia Plateau before white settlers arrived. Members of the local Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla tribes portray ceremonial dances and other traditions from the time.

When the tribes meet Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacajawea, the actors portraying the exploration party are being greeted by descendants of those who welcomed the real explorers in 1805.

The show moves through conflicts between the Indians and settlers — including some gunplay and crowd-pleasing stunts — and a somber treaty-signing ceremony, before turning into a more humorous, vaudeville-like Wild West encapsulating the rambunctiousness of early town life in the West.

Roy Raley wrote the Wild West side of the show in 1914 and added the second act two years later with the help of Anna Minthorn Wannassay, a member of the Cayuse tribe, to form the full Happy Canyon Night Show.

In addition to live actors, stunts and animals, the Happy Canyon Night Show is set to live orchestra music that ebbs and flows with the action onstage. In all, about 750 people come together to bring the Night Show to life.

The 2024 show features trick rider/roman rider Piper Yule and trick roper, Bleu LeDoux, granddaughter of Chris LeDoux.don’t want to miss it!

“You don’t want to miss the world’s oldest Indian Pageant and Wild West Show left in America — it is a show for all ages!” said Becky Waggoner, show director.

The Oregon Legislature in 2013 declared Happy Canyon the state’s official outdoor pageant and Wild West show. The show runs Wednesday through Saturday following the Pendleton Round-Up, Sept. 11-14 in the Happy Canyon Arena at 7:45 p.m.

The Goldie’s Experience

After the pageant ends, audience members can stroll into Goldie’s Bar at the Pendleton Convention Center next door. The bar, for patrons 21 and older, features live music, gambling, drinking and dancing. It opens at 8 p.m. each night and stays open late — midnight on Wednesday, then 2 a.m. the remainder of the week.

“Typically it starts right after Happy Canyon ends,” said Shawn Towne, Goldie’s director for Happy Canyon. “Goldie’s is the official after-party of the Pendleton Round-Up.”

Wednesday is locals nights with no cover charge. After that, the cover charge is $5.

The evenings feature a live DJ inside the convention center, while a live band sets up on the stage in the sawdust arena.

In 2023, Goldie’s Grill debuted with food by Pendleton Catering Company. That food option returns this year with an expanded menu.

Also returning is the mechanical pig, and new to Friday and Saturday will be a goat-tying competition.

Another change is that, instead of drink chips, attendees can purchase scrips to use as a drink voucher — something Towne said was a tradition for Goldie’s in the 1950s and ’60s.

Although Pendleton has a lot of choices during Round-Up, Towne said a visit to Goldie’s is a must.

“It’s only here the week of, and it’s an experience that lasts a lifetime,” he said.