Pendleton Round-Up to begin demolition to expand footprint

PENDLETON, Oregon – The Pendleton Round-Up Association will be demolishing some of the buildings on land it owns west of Southwest 18th Street. President Dave O’Neill says the tavern and a few houses will be torn down. “It’s an area we’ve targeted as a place where we were able to grow our footprint and expand to allow for further parking and other amenities we need to have additional events,” he said. O’Neill said the work will be finished before Round-Up 2019. “Some of those properties will be demolished in the next few weeks, so you’ll see a flurry of activity,” he said. “It’ll be a nice addition to our campus.” For the short term, O’Neill said the lots will be leveled and graveled. The short-term use will be to add parking for contestants and stock contractors, bringing them closer to the Round-Up Grounds. In turn, he said, that will free up parking in areas that are farther away from the campus that could be used for public parking. The city of Pendleton also owns land in that area, and one of the long-term plans is for Blue Mountain Community College to build a regional agricultural training facility which will include an indoor rodeo arena in that location. link