Oregon Public Broadcasting

The population of Pendleton, Oregon, has already begun to swell. The 100th Pendleton Round-Up kicks off officially Wednesday. But the town has been scrambling to ready itself for years for this centennial event.

Pendleton has a new plaza, a new statue in town and a major expansion of the grandstands. The rodeo grounds are crawling with activity.

Carl Culham is the Secretary and Publicity Director of Round-Up, but he jumps to work on just about any job that needs doing. Right now he's dotting white lines on a baseball outfield so that cowboys can park their horse trailers.

Culham says motels are booked up in neighboring towns even an hour away. He says even Pendleton’s rental shop owner was surprised by the economic bump.

Carl Culham: “He says we’ve rented more beds than we ever have as far as the store is concerned and in fact we’ve even gotten calls from our headquarters saying what the heck is going on in Pendleton because you are like breaking records on rental of beds.”

The 100th Pendleton Round-Up runs through this Saturday.