The rodeo opened with royalty at a dead gallop. Four Pendleton Round-Up princesses and a queen tore around a grass arena that draws tens of thousands to Eastern Oregon every year.
![This man had competition on the corner selling tickets to the rodeo on opening day.](https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/XWXEJFKU6BF73I3DK3NCAS5RAA.jpg?auth=bc7b1784fc1b4f93471c8b21d0276df32828501e0ab7df07bc664fc3769f1d1b&width=150)
This man had competition on the corner selling tickets to the rodeo on opening day.
Emily Cureton / OPB
The announcer's voice boomed through the stands: "Welcome to the Pendleton Round-Up!"
Then he revved up the crowd with a longstanding motto: "Let 'er buck, boys! Let 'er buck!"
The call was met with a chorus of shouts. Bareback bronc riding was the first of many events to draw about 700 competitors across four days of showmanship and competition for about $500,000 in prize money.
![A cowboy gets ready to let er’ buck as the pick up riders drive the last rider’s horse away from the chutes.](https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/OSCT4QPF75CQZF3UXC2UVGCJWA.jpg?auth=4a9d829de9e2df3be463820c6e0313e59a7e86ca4ab36e2813f00ee144502286&width=150)
A cowboy gets ready to let er’ buck as the pick up riders drive the last rider’s horse away from the chutes.
Emily Cureton / OPB
More than 1,000 volunteers pitch in to run the rodeo with a small staff. It’s a real family effort, said Randy Thomas. He serves on the Round-Up’s board of directors, and said he hasn’t missed a Round-Up since 1960.
“I grew up in Portland and I came here on purpose, because I really loved the rodeo and I loved the lifestyle here,” said Thomas.
![Trick roper Rider Kiesner nonchalantly twirls a lasso around himself as he rehearses for opening night of the Happy Canyon show at the Pendleton Round-up.](https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/KROU2PKIE5B2XBPRBD2MTQNZBA.jpg?auth=296a7c045217175125f54a1adb5624e75b8e628df2a466f520c681b685264ee9&width=150)
Trick roper Rider Kiesner nonchalantly twirls a lasso around himself as he rehearses for opening night of the Happy Canyon show at the Pendleton Round-up.
Emily Cureton / OPB
That was 40 years ago. Now, Portlanders often ask him a quintessential, urbanite-to-ruralite question: ‘What do you guys even do here?’
“And it's just generally the wrong question,” Thomas laughed. “The question in Pendleton is: ‘Who are you going to be with?’ It's never about what you're going to do if you’re with the people you love, and you're with family.”
![The crowd at opening day of the Pendleton Round-up rodeo.](https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/6QI6ZG54FBFSJOE5YK4W2QFJ4Q.jpg?auth=b33f98f231afebcc8c8aef9060f8030b03cb82e7c8c37e1bff04ce5906e94060&width=150)
The crowd at opening day of the Pendleton Round-up rodeo.
Emily Cureton / OPB
This week, the families of Pendleton swell, and there’s no shortage of things to do together.
“More people come in my family for round-up, than they do for Christmas,” said Charla Simons. The 20-year-old grew up in Pendleton, and is a Round-Up princess this year.
![Charla Simons says it’s been a lifelong dream to be a rodeo princess: “It was something I always wanted to do, but didn’t seem possible.”](https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/PQKHP7ZQKRFSXCH3RVCLPPLLGQ.jpg?auth=c716966e552c1b9c86f347112ad113cbd0e5e5bc05e380c49489386a0d20ecfc&width=150)
Charla Simons says it’s been a lifelong dream to be a rodeo princess: “It was something I always wanted to do, but didn’t seem possible.”
Emily Cureton / OPB
The crowds in town for Round-Up events have peaked at 50,000 people in years past, tripling the population of Pendleton. Downtown streets are closed to cars to make room for vendors, live music, and a horse parade.
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