PENDLETON — Crowds gathering Sept. 12 to watch the Pendleton Round-Up looked a little different than the typical rodeo outfits sporting denim, leather and neutral button-downs.

Instead, many attendees — and competitors — wore bright pink shirts, dresses, overalls, hats and beads in support of the day’s theme: Tough Enough to Wear Pink. The Thursday of Round-Up week is dedicated to raising money for local breast cancer patients, treatment programs and survivors.

“The Pendleton Round-Up is this world-renowned event,” said Jill Gregg, co-chair of the campaign, “and being able to use that platform to raise money for women and men here in our town, it’s a great way for us to help local people.”

Tough Enough to Wear Pink is a national campaign at rodeos and other sporting events that started in 2004 to raise awareness and money to fight breast cancer at a more local level. This year marked the campaign’s 18th year at the Pendleton Round-Up.

“Round-Up is huge on tradition,” Gregg said, “and I think it’s safe to say that Tough Enough to Wear Pink is part of that tradition.”

Reaching for a record

Being tough enough to wear pink, to Gregg, means “to be a survivor, to be fierce and to be brave,” she said. Her co-chair, Casey White-Zollman, said it also means people touched by cancer feel supported.

During the rodeo, survivors and supporters walked through the Round-Up Arena led by Queen Kayla Fossek and her court with signs thanking attendees for their support. White-Zollman said the walk is a tradition that means a lot to the survivors.

“It’s like having these arms of support wrapped around you,” she said. “When they look out in the stands when they do their survivor walk through the arena, they look up and see just that sea of pink and know that all these people are here for them, supporting them, and that’s a pretty cool feeling.”

The walk provides a physical representation of support for survivors while the donations offer monetary support. Three local organizations — CHI St. Anthony Hospital’s Cancer Clinic, the Eastern Oregon Cancer Network and the Kickin’ Cancer New Beginnings program — receive the entirety of the day’s proceeds, which come from sponsors as well as individual donors.

“We zero out every year,” White-Zollman said, “and we start from scratch with our sponsors every year and make it happen, so that every dollar can go to our cancer patients.”

Last year, the campaign raised a record $40,000, but the co-chairs are hoping this year will bring in even more. White-Zollman said they won’t know the total amount until November because of a partnership with ClickIt RV Milton-Freewater, which is donating a portion of its proceeds to the campaign until the end of October as part of breast cancer awareness month.

“Based on the proceeds we brought in at the TETWP event last week (including sponsorships, merchandise and raffle ticket sales, donations, tips from the bars in the Round-Up Grounds, and proceeds from Sunridge Middle School’s TETWP coin drive),” she said in an email after the rodeo, “we are definitely on track to break last year’s record of $40,000.”