Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle
, September 13, 2009 18:16
Photo by Bob Click
The 99-year-old Pendleton Round-Up, in Oregon, is one of the oldest and most popular rodeos in America. The festivities began yesterday (9/12/09) with a parade and a Rodney Atkins concert. There’s a banquet tonight, and then tomorrow the real action begins, with professional bull riders Monday night. But the Round-Up proper doesn’t even start until Wednesday! It can get pretty rowdy, especially beneath the grandstand in a bar known as the Let ‘er Buck Room, where only hard liquor is served and there’s a strict no-cameras rule (let your imaginations run wild). Besides plenty of top-quality rodeo, there are parades, beauty pageants, and dancing. For those who feel food should not be ignored, there will also be a series of cowboy breakfasts and barbecues from Wednesday through Saturday. The Round-Up closes Saturday night (9/19/09) with the Happy Canyon Indian Pageant.
