12
AUG. 17�24
MIXED MEDIUM
THE ARTS AROUND
EASTERN OREGON
Stroll through history on the Bronze Trail
By Jennifer Colton
Go! Magazine
PENDLETON — Anyone who visits
downtown Pendleton will likely notice the
life-size statues along Main Street, but
not everyone will know those are part of
a route called the Pendleton Bronze Trail.
The current version of the Bronze Trail
has 22 stops, and many of them highlight
people and places in Pendleton’s history.
Many of the statues are along Main
Street, creating a single walking path from
the Pendleton Center for the Arts (PCA) to
Heritage Station Museum, a loop that is a
little less than a mile through downtown.
Starting at PCA, the fi rst piece is
“Sisters in Spirit,” a sculpture of two
intertwined horses symbolizing the rela-
tionship between Pendleton and its sister
city, Minamisoma, Japan. Minamisoma
has a matching sculpture, cast from the
PENDLETON BRONZE TRAIL
For a list of statues on the Bronze
Trail, visit goeasternoregon.com.
same mold, which survived a deadly tsu-
nami in 2011.
“It’s really meaningful for a lot of the
people in the community because our
sister city in Japan has a matching one
and it kind of symbolizes the resilience of
the people in our sister city,” said Roberta
Lavadour, executive director of PCA.
Following the loop of the Pendleton
Bronze Trail, travelers cross the Umatil-
la River and stop in Brownfi eld Park for
former Pendleton High School Football
Coach Don Requa before visiting the
statues of Jackson Sundown, a Nez Perce
championship rodeo rider, and Chief Clar-
Jennifer Colton/Go! Magazine
Jackson Sundown
ence T. Burke, the fi rst Pendleton Round-
Up Chief.
Many parts of the Bronze Trail exist off
Main Street as well, including the oldest
of the statues: Til Taylor in Til Taylor Park.
The statue of the former Umatilla County
Sheriff killed during a jail break was built
in 1929. A statue of Esther Motanic, the
fi rst Native American Round-Up queen,
stands nearby. In the extended version of
the Pendleton Bronze Trail, which winds
throughout Pendleton, Til Taylor is the
fi rst stop.
Some of the statues, including the Let
‘er Buck Bronze and the Courting Blue
Herons, stand in areas of signifi cance,
such as the Pendleton Round Up grounds
and the Umatilla River Parkway.
In addition to the statues, visitors can
also learn more about other public art
pieces, including the “Western Heritage”
mural and the Seth Thomas Clock and the
Umatilla County Courthouse.
“The main thing about public art is that
it allows people an opportunity to engage
with a community in a cool way. It’s a
more dynamic way about learning about
people who were important to the com-
munity,” Lavadour said. “I especially love
the trail part of it. It provides a great way
of seeing public art and visiting all the
little shops around town. It gives people a
reason to walk in downtown.”
Each statue of the Pendleton Bronze
Trail has an information plaque nearby
telling the history of the subject and
about the artwork itself. Many parts of the
trail also have short audio descriptions
available on Travel Pendleton’s website,
so those interested in hearing about the
statues can do so.
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