Mike Herbes of High Valley, mounts a horse while preparing for the Happy Canyon Nigh Show in September 2014 behind the Happy Canyon Arena in Pendleton.

PENDLETON — Sawdust fills the air as a local tribesman rides bareback on a steadfast pinto horse striding across the stage. On set, freshly cut trees from the Umatilla National Forest rustle slightly, bringing the outdoor arena to life. Chief Gary Burke welcomes the audience with the only known words left of the Cayuse language, and tribal members wearing hundred-year-old regalia adorned with beadwork, dentalium shells and even scalp hair, showcase life before the arrival of settlers.

The Happy Canyon night show goes on to depict the first meetings between the local tribes and the White pioneers, their ensuing clashes, the forced signing of the 1855 land treaty, and the beginnings of peace. In essence, it’s the story of Pendleton.

“What people don’t understand is that the tribal members that are greeting Lewis and Clark (in the show) are descendants of the actual tribal members who greeted Lewis and Clark,” said show director Becky Waggoner. “And if you go to the grandstand and look towards the Umatilla River, that’s where the Oregon Trail actually is.”

Many of the props in the show are historical antiques. For instance, the same organ that crossed the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon is once again pulled by wagon and played on stage. Parfleches (bags made of rawhide) and baskets used as props have been authenticated by local tribes.

Happy Canyon was created in 1914 to provide family-friendly entertainment after the Pendleton Round-Up rodeo events. At the time of the first Round-Up in 1910, the city of Pendleton, with a population of 4,460, had little to offer its 7,000 visitors for nighttime entertainment besides street dancing, the movie theater, and bars that didn’t allow women and children.

Roy Raley, also the first president of Round-Up, decided the rodeo needed its own evening show and began to write the Wild West portions of Happy Canyon based on his father’s own experiences crossing the Oregon Trail to Pendleton in 1862. Two years later, he expanded the Indian portion of the show with the help of local tribal member Anna C. Minthorn. Although there have been efforts to include more of the Native American perspective, there’s still a need for more representation in decision-making positions.

“Even though we were really involved in the Round-Up and the Happy Canyon, not very many of our learned and wise people were ever asked to be directors,” said Stuart Harris, a member of the local Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

However, visit the Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame Museum, and the narrative does justice in honoring both sides.

“The Indians are represented almost as equally as the white people in there. I mean, it’s almost 50-50, which is kind of cool because the history shows that we’re 50-50,” Harris said.

Today, the second week of September draws nearly 50,000 spectators to the Round-Up stadium. Though the seven-time Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Large Outdoor Rodeo winner is the primary draw for most visitors, the Happy Canyon show has become an attraction of its own and in 2013 the Oregon Legislature declared the show as the state’s official outdoor pageant and Wild West show.

For many of the 700 cast and crew, all of whom are volunteers, the intergenerational family aspect is what makes the experience special. Waggoner follows her husband, father, and grandfather in the role of show director (she is also the first woman on the board of directors). For the last 20 years, Waggoner has also played the nurse, a role that was passed down from her cousin.

Waggoner’s relatives have been key participants since the show opened in 1914 when her great-grandfather played the first sheriff, now portrayed by her brother-in-law. Waggoner’s first grandchild begins the sixth generation of Happy Canyon participants.

“Voluntold, we call it,” said Waggoner, who had her first role at the age of 3. Many of the local volunteers continue to live the Western life off stage. Waggoner’s family has raised cattle for four generations, and their herds can still be spotted grazing around the Blue Mountains. The volunteers who lead the horseback square dancing in Happy Canyon also are from local ranches.

Originally, the Pendleton Round-Up was created to celebrate the old Western lifestyle with real cowboys from across the Northwest exhibiting their best horsemanship and roping skills. It was advertised to be “a frontier exhibition of picturesque pastimes, Indian and military spectacles, cowboy racing and bronco busting for the championship of the Northwest.”

Although Round-Up draws many competitors across the country, and even a few internationally, some like steer roping champion Pake Sorrey are local to Pendleton.

Similar to the Happy Canyon participants, many of them grew up immersed in the Western lifestyle. Sorey watched his father win steer wrestling at the Round-Up, began riding horses before he can remember, and today works on his family’s dry land wheat farm. A full representative of Pendleton’s traditions, Sorey also participated in Happy Canyon as a young boy.

Wedged between the Happy Canyon arena and the Round-Up stadium is Indian Village, one of the largest annual teepee encampments in the United States. Though there’s a small Native American presence at other rodeos, none come close to Pendleton, so much that when one speaks of “Indian Village,” Round-Up is what instantly comes to mind.

The Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla people make up CTUIR, which lies adjacent to Pendleton. Across the Northwest, other tribes such as the Yakama, Warm Springs and Nez Perce travel to Pendleton and join CTUIR in assembling more than 300 teepees for the event.

For most of those living in Indian Village, it’s a family reunion and an annual tradition. To be close to their ancestors, families prefer to camp in the same spot year after year.

When discrepancies about those spots arise, arguments occur.

“I would say we (the various tribes) are all hungry wolves until our teepees are set up, and then we’re family, and it’s all good,” said Latonia Andy, whose family has been a part of the Indian Village since its founding.

Visitors are welcome to walk around Indian Village, but common courtesy such as respecting the privacy of those inside the tents is appreciated. Violations of that respect have occurred throughout the years. One time, a visitor stole a war bonnet off a horse.

Residents also felt exploited when a guest used close-up photographs of regalia to sell cards without permission.

For the most part, however, those participating in the Village enjoy sharing their traditions with others.

“You see the real integration of a lot of different kinds of people. It truly is a celebration,” Harris said “We bring a lot of our culture to the table, and people get to look at it.”

A coming together of people and cultures, cowboys wearing fringed chaps and Stetson hats, Native Americans wearing buckskin regalia and headdresses, more than a hundred years of fighting and friendship, broken trust and trust rebuilt, a story told in all its harshness and its beauty in the evenings and lived out in the village and arena each day — this is the Pendleton Round-Up, and these are its people.

This is part one of a six-part feature from Olivia Wolf, writer and editor ofthetinyvagabond.com.

She wrote the story about the 2023 Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Night Show. The work focuses on the perspectives of seven people:

• A grandmother and granddaughter from the Yakama tribe who stay in the Indian Village and whose family has been attending the Pendleton Round-Up since its founding in 1910.

• A husband and wife of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation who also stay in village and live on the reservation near Pendleton.

• Pake Sorrey, Pendleton local who won the 2023 Round-Up steer roping competition and whose father won twice before him.

• And Toni Minthorn, a horsewoman and 2023 Hall of Fame inductee who trains the Round-Up queen and princesses to do the grand entry.

The East Oregonian is publishing a new part each day of the week during the Pendleton Round-Up.