A12
PENDLETON ROUND-UP
East Oregonian
Saturday, September 18, 2021
Westward Ho! Parade showcases local history, culture
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The history
and culture of Pendleton was on full
display at the Westward Ho! Parade
on a brisk morning Friday, Sept. 17.
A staple attraction at the Pendleton
Round-Up since its inception in 1910,
the controlled but chaotic event drew
hundreds of people from far and wide
to the streets of downtown.
The nonmotorized parade show-
cased the area’s western roots, with
animal-drawn covered wagons, cars,
buggies, and large groups of horse-
back riders and marching bands.
It also played homage to the area’s
indigenous cultures. Tribal partici-
pants of all ages wore traditional rega-
lia while riding on horseback, singing,
waving, chanting and drumming as
they passed through the town.
“It shows people that we’re real,”
said 88-year-old Norman Dumont,
who worked for the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation in environmental health and
safety for nearly three decades. “We
have our reservation. It shows the
cooperation between the tribes and
the people of the town.”
Sitting beside the parade, smok-
ing a cigarette and watching children
donning regalia pass by, Dumont
voiced pride for his community.
“I feel very proud of our young
people trying to maintain our culture,
instead of living in two worlds,”
Dumont said.
Veterans, politicians, farmers and
Round-Up representatives rode on
horseback through the town, many
hollering “Let ‘er Buck.” Cheerlead-
ers danced through the streets and
marching bands blared music, includ-
ing “When The Saints Go Marching
In.”
From the sidewalks, kids scram-
bled for candy and covered the road
with chalk art outside of the Prodi-
gal Son Brewery & Pub. Spectators
cheered and laughed from their fold-
able chairs. They waved to parade
participants and shouted back, “Let
‘er Buck.”
Among them was Tracey Jim,
a lifelong Pendleton resident and
mother of seven who was back after
a 20-year Round-Up hiatus. She
stopped coming to Round-Up when
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Dennis Zimmerman sounds the drum as a member of the Pendleton Mounted Band Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 during the annual Westward Ho! Parade.
her mother died, but now she felt that
it was fi nally time for her and her
family to get out and about. She said
she enjoyed watching the old-fash-
ioned carts and the Indians waltzing
through the streets.
“It shows a welcome to the people,”
she said of the parade. “I hope every-
one is having fun.”
Tom Melling, of Ventura, Cali-
fornia, was back in town for his sixth
rodeo and attended the parade. He
came to love Round-Up week and all
its attractions back in 2015. He said
he loves the atmosphere and history
of the Round-Up and the people of the
town. It draws him back each year.
“I love the people here, they’re not
pushy,” he said. “And every year it
gets better.”
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Sam and Simon Schnitzer, ages 4 and 5, wave to parade participants during the Westward Ho! Parade on
Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, in downtown Pendleton.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Kathy Aney/
East Oregonian
The Happy Canyon Fire
Department carts its wagon
down Southeast Court
Avenue in Pendleton Friday,
Sept. 17, 2021, during the
Westward Ho! Parade.
A fl ag bearer
rides in the
Westward Ho!
Parade on
Friday, Sept.
17, 2021, in
downtown
Pendleton.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Paradegoers watch as the Westward Ho!
Parade passes by Main Street in Pendle-
ton Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.
Show:
Continued from Page A1
Mary Finney, said she
probably got involved with
the show’s lighting in 1993
when her sweetheart brought
her into the mix.
Nearly 30 years later, she
still clambers up the ladder to
the catwalk above the audi-
ence and through the narrow
wooden walkways behind the
scenes to make sure the lights
wash the arena in splashes of
color and light. Inspecting the
roughly 800 lights throughout
the set is just a part of the job.
“I was here because of the
guy that I fell in love with and
it’s really hard to leave. I don’t
know ... I don’t know how you
do that,” Finney said with a
laugh.
Christina Jason and Nathan
Garton, sound technicians for
Night Show, work hand in
hand with Finney to make sure
sounds match up with changes
in lighting. Between making
sure sound levels are right to
coordinating and syncing with
what’s happening on stage,
Jason and Garton are wedged
into the fabric of the show.
“We’re involved in pretty
much all the facets,” Jason
said. “It bleeds through every-
thing.”
With horses and
carriages fl ying across the
arena, actors diving off set
pieces and dozens more
rushing around, the staff and
volunteers need to be on top
of what’s happening.
“You kind of go with the
pace of the people,” Jason
said. “It’s just one step at a
time. You’ve got to be orga-
nized, you’ve got to have time
management.”
While Waggoner doesn’t
act in the show anymore,
he remains an integral part,
giving cues from the director’s
booth for all the acts to keep
the fl ow of the show on time.
Most of the time, Waggoner
is an act or two, or sometimes
three, ahead in preparing for
the next scene. Paying atten-
tion to the details and making
sure he doesn’t get distracted
is key to his success.
“If you get caught up
watching what’s going on,
then you’ll start missing
things,” he said.
The pandemonium of
Happy Canyon, however, is
intertwined with a deep love
of the show, including for
Waggoner. From the moment
his father-in-law, Robin
Fletcher, threw him a buck-
skin outfi t and asked him to be
a part of the show after some-
one didn’t show up, Waggoner
has loved it and been involved
ever since.
“It’s family, it’s commu-
nity, it’s tradition, it’s culture,”
he said. “It’s just special in all
those ways.”
“I just love the live action, I
love making history happen,”
Jason said. “I love working
with people, I think it’s fantas-
tic.”
Pendleton High School
band teacher Andy Cary
conducts the orchestra for the
event. After a year of so many
unknowns, he said, “it’s heart-
warming and affi rming” for
the show to be back, even if it’s
not at its best.
“Just knowing that we
can all get together and make
some music is amazing,” Cary
said. “It just fi lls my soul.”
When the show is fi nally
over for the night, Waggoner
said there’s a sense of relief
and appreciation for every-
one’s hard work. When every-
one who participates in the
show works together, from the
smallest roles to the biggest, it
creates something special.
“Each time the show ends,
there’s this personal sense of
gratifi cation after being part
of something bigger than you
are,” Waggoner said.
When the fi nal act is over,
appreciation runs through
Waggoner and, “and you just
take a moment to pause and
reflect,” he said. “And just
appreciate that, wow, you
know, this is really cool to be a
part of something this special.
Waggoner’s appreciation
for the support of the commu-
nity and volunteers is wide-
spread — that hundreds of
participants come back year
after year to put on such an
intricate and involved show is
a feat in itself.
“We’re just so grateful
we’re back at it again after a
year off ,” he said. “There’s a
huge amount of energy, and
you can just sense people are
just excited to be back, excited
to be a part of what we all love
and enjoy.”