Pendleton Dress-Up Parade

After spending 2 nights in Pendleton I will stay a few more hours for a special event, the Dress-Up Parade. This is probably the first parade I've ever watched during a bike tour.

The Dress-Up Parade is the inaugural event of the 2023 Pendleton Round-Up, run by a non-profit group called Main Street Cowboys. It's the town's parade for the people of the town, 4 days before crowds arrive for the rodeo. In many ways it resembles any small town parade except that it has far more horses.

I walked to the Hamley cafe for breakfast and noticed that chairs were lining the parade route. Last night people set up chairs in the courthouse lawn across from my motel.

Chairs lining the parade route 3 hours before the parade passes by.

The last car being towed off the parade route.

The parade starts at 10 AM about 7 blocks west of my motel. Before the parade I had plenty of time to get fully packed for quick departure after the parade.

The parade route goes by my motel, but I walked 4 blocks west to have a better background and to be closer to the start of the route. I want to get out of town before noon.

The parade begins with an Honor Guard. They have the honor of being the only people in the parade to walk on clean pavement.

Main Street Cowboys is the non-profit that runs this parade.

I never saw carriage rides in Pendleton. This carriage could do that.

I think the name Dress-Up Parade can have meanings other than literally getting dressed up. It's the dress rehearsal for the Round-Up rodeo.

Now that's dressed up! The only horses with floral arrangements.

I don't know what each uniformed group is. Riding clubs?

Pendleton Round-Up President and Board of Directors. Mostly pudgy old men who don't look like real rodeo cowboys.

The token female director looks like an accomplished rider and likes flowers on her hat.

Kids were constantly running out to grab candy. Tons of Tootsie Rolls and hard candies were thrown out. The kids got many pounds of candy.

Parade participants threw out vast quantities of candy. That's easy for people in floats. The horse riders had feed bags full of candy.

Most everybody throws out small Tootsie Rolls and small hard candies. The Umatilla tribe's Wildhorse Casino float raised the bar by throwing out full size bags of M&M candy plus the occasional rolled-up T-shirt.

Happy Canyon Indian Princess. Note the dressed up kids with grocery bags to hold candy.

The parade was much more than just horses. There were many motorized floats, typically a flatbed trailer pulled by a tractor truck.

Actors in the outdoor Happy Canyon western pageant, with a huge stockpile of Tootsie Rolls.

Dancing girls in the Happy Canyon western pageant.

And just when I think I'm done with horses, along come more horses.

I was disappointed that Pendleton Mounted Band didn't play when they passed by.

Milton-Freewater Pioneer Posse. I will be in Milton-Freewater tonight.

Then another break in the horses for more traditional parade stuff.

The Othello, Washington band was the only marching band in the parade. No Pendleton marching band.

The Umatilla tribe was one of the last group of horses to go by. They had by far the best decorated horses.

Now the Umatilla tribe. Chief on the right. Elder hunter on the left.

This is the Dress Up Parade but the tribe is not dressed up. They are wearing regalia that has deep cultural and spiritual significance. It's not a costume, it's part of their identity.

The Umatilla tribe had by far the best decorated horses.

Super cute on the right. "Spare" horse on the left. Maybe the girl's partner dropped out at the last minute.

This seems to be a group called "unaffiliated people who like to ride horses".

Young Mexican-American riders. The horses are wearing hats!

Dance studio group. I can read their minds. Why aren't we in FRONT of the horses?

The parade was still ongoing when I started walking back to the motel at 10:45. I walked alongside the parade on the sidewalk for 4 blocks back to my motel. At the motel I stood in front of the office and watched a bit more of the parade go by. The last remnants of the parade were still passing by when I started pedaling east at 11 AM. The participants still have to turn around and parade 10 blocks west, back to the starting point.

Pilot Rock school band solved the problem of walking behind horses.

I could see even more horses if I watched the official Pendleton Round-Up Parade next Saturday. That parade is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the world's largest non-motorized parade. But it would be much more crowded.

I haven't seen the main Pendleton Round-Up parade but I imagine it hasn't changed much since 1911.

The Pendleton Round-Up rodeo is next Wednesday through Saturday, September 13-16. I will be long gone when the crowds show up, but the Dress-Up Parade allowed me to experience some of the fun.

The parade was the most memorable part of the tour. I have no regrets about lingering most of the morning in Pendleton, but now it's time to say goodbye.

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Rich FrasierThat's got to be the most horses I've ever seen in a Cycleblaze journal entry! Great report!
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1 year ago