Oregon Public Broadcasting

Anna King / Northwest News Network

Abigail Totus, 12, of White Swan, Wash., and her cousins, Latishia Adams, 12, and Tianna Adams, 11, both of Harrah, Wash. The girls say Round-Up is one of their favorite times of year.

The 100-year-celebration of Pendleton Round-Up is turning out to be like spurs to the economy of northeast Oregon. Even rodeo organizers are surprised by the crowds.

As a cowboy might say, in Pendleton the bad economy seems as far away as a hard-day's-ride. Anna King reports.

Behind the bleachers at Pendleton Round-Up workers are frantically scrambling to get items off the shelf for a souvenir-hungry crowd. Retail manager Donna Majors has one word for how things are going.

Donna Majors: "Gangbusters."

Majors says the hottest items are: centennial belt buckles, scarves, t-shirts, purses and glassware. Many of the official Round-Up items are already sold out.

Donna Majors: "Well, the crowd are way more than usual, so defiantly more than usual. And we thought we prepared for this, but obviously we did not."

Anna King / Northwest News Network

John Turner and Larry Lehman, both of Pendleton, take plastic chips for beer and try to keep up with the crowd’s thirst during the annual Round-Up rodeo.

Across a walkway, at the beer stand, they've been selling something to wet a cowboy's whistle since 10 each morning.

Larry Lehman: "Would you like a beer?"

Customer: "I would love a beer."

Larry Lehman: "There you go sir."

John Turner and Larry Lehman are volunteering to sell beer to raise money for the Pendleton Rotary Club. Turner say sales have been brisk all day.

John Turner: "We get a portion of the dividends from selling the beer and that goes toward scholarships for high school students."

Turner thinks that his beer sales have been up a full 50 percent over last year.

Anna King / Northwest News Network

Chad Denton, 32, of Berry Creek, Calif., takes a short breather after just riding the bull Far North. Denton says that bull injured him in 2006, so he was glad to score well on him at the Pendleton Round-Up.

One of the Pendleton Round-Up directors Carl Culham says even the early crowd numbers are amazing. Last year on opening day the stadium was about 37 percent full. He say this year it was nearly 80 percent full.

Carl Culham: "You know usually we ramp up. We don't have quite as many people on Wednesday, we have a little more on Thursday, a little bit more on Friday and the big rush on Saturday. But this almost feels like a Saturday."

Meanwhile, some of the Round-Up athletes are just trying to survive till Saturday.

Anna King / Northwest News Network

Loyd Ketchum, 48, has participated in the Pendleton Round-Up 20 times. As a full-time bull fighter, his office is the space between a massive angry bull and the cowboy flying off its back.

Loyd Ketchum is a full-time bull fighter. It's a hazardous job. His office cubical lies right between a beefy angry bull and a disoriented cowboy. His job is to run fast and keep the bull away from the cowboy.

Loyd Ketchum: "Good day at the office so far. Everything went well."

Anna King: "Nobody got hurt."

Loyd Ketchum: "Nobody got hurt and everybody walked away safe. If we can do that every day that's the game plan."

At 48 and on his 20th Pendleton Round-Up Ketchum says he hasn't always been that lucky. He's broken his back, his wrists and all the ribs on one side. But the bull fighter from Mile City, Montana, says he isn't planning his retirement party anytime soon.

Anna King / Northwest News Network

Carl D. Sampson, 77, of Pendleton, adjusts his headdress before dancing in the rodeo arena for the 100th Celebration of the Pendleton Round-Up.

Not far away, in the Native American village, is someone who's been to 77 Round-Ups.

It's Carl D. Sampson. He's the "head man" for the Walla Walla or Wallulapum band of Native Americans.

Sampson says in all his years of Round-Up, he's never seen a crowd like this. But to him it's not about the past, it's about keeping this tradition alive for the next 100 years. Sampson looked down at his baby grandson sitting at his feet.

Carl D. Sampson: "That's what it's all about. Is making sure that these guys will have a place here to stay, a place in the community here. That's what keeps me going is my grandchildren."

The Round-Up runs through Saturday.