Our Place in Walla Walla #2: The Happy Canyon Pageant

The Pendleton Round-Up, running from Wednesday, Sept. 13 through Saturday, Sept. 16, is one of the oldest and largest rodeos in the United States. Visitors from around the globe inundate the small city to watch extraordinary riders test their skills. The phrase, “Let ‘er buck!”—the event’s motto—seems ubiquitous.

Another special event connected to yet quite distinct from the rodeo is the Happy Canyon Pageant.

“The Pageant is a show depicting the settling of the American West, beginning with a portrayal of the Native American way of life prior to the arrival of the white man, continuing with the arrival of Lewis and Clark, followed by the prairie schooners of the pioneers of the Oregon Trail and concluding with a reenactment of a frontier town’s rollicking main street mishaps.” (from the Round-Up website)

The pageant’s original script was written in 1914 by Roy Raley. According to the Happy Canyon history webpage, Raley was a sort of liberal artsy-type of his time, working as a “lawyer, legislator, cattleman, banker, surveyor, engineer, sportsman, businessman, and creator of community celebrations. He was a man who ‘made things happen’ and not just any way, but the right way.”  In 1916, Raley reworked his script to add an Indian component to the story.

Becky Fletcher Waggoner is a Happy Canyon volunteer and current Show Director (third generation) and is the author of the 2016 book, “Happy Canyon: A History of the World’s Most Unique Indian Pageant & Wild West Show.” Becky told me that the event is the official Oregon Outdoor Indian Pageant and Wild West Show and the “OLDEST Indian Pageant and Wild West Show in the world going into our 107th year.”

Last week Becky reflected, “Happy Canyon is her people. I like to say that our 700 plus volunteers, cast members and crew is the golden thread of the show. There is nothing else like it in all the world— to see the pageantry of our local tribes, from the Wedding Dance to the Medicine Man scene and all of the tribal cast members in full regalia is a sight not seen anywhere else outside of powwows.”

Happy Canyon is interesting enough that some Whitman students have had the opportunity to observe the show as part of their academic work.

“Since 2007 or so, the Anthropology Department has had a tradition of taking our seniors to the Pageant,” said Jason Pribilsky, Professor of Anthropology and Race and Ethnic Studies. “We incorporate the visit into our senior seminar and ask students to consider how the pageant could be a thesis project. We couple our discussion with chapters from Philip Deloria Jr.’s wonderful book ‘Playing Indian’ and an article about the Hiawatha Pageant in the Midwest.”

Indeed, one of the show’s aspects that Whitties and other attendees are most struck by is the extensive and somewhat “meta” participation of tribal members. The Indians who are “playing” Indians often give the impression of enjoying their roles in the performance, which is a mix of seriousness, conflict and humor.

Audience members may wonder about the involvement of these performers in sharing a narrative of our region’s history. Are the Indians being exploited? Are they being tokenized? Do they have any agency in their roles and in their script?

(Indeed, as Whitman deepens and expands our relationship with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, CTUIR, according to the terms of our 2022 Memorandum of Agreement, it is always ethically appropriate to raise these kinds of worries.)

Yet, like so many aspects of our place, with more exploration and study the reality quickly becomes more nuanced and complex.

To begin, Jeanine Gordon, Whitman’s Special Assistant to the President for Native American Outreach, told me that many families with tribal connections to this area celebrate and enjoy and fully participate in Happy Canyon. Jeanine shared that there are “long-time traditions of sharing and practicing our culture and heritage” connected to the week. Jeanine herself grew up in the Tipi Village (her family still has assigned family tipi spots and still set up tipis), performed in the Happy Canyon show, participated in the week’s parades and in the arena dancing, and was a George St. Denis American Legion Post 140 Princess.

There are hundreds of people at CTUIR like Jeanine for whom Happy Canyon is an important part of their year and a priority for their autumn schedules (many people take the entire week off to be able to fully commit to the events).

In addition to CTUIR members, participants come from many tribes around the Northwest, including “sizeable delegations” from the tribes of the Yakima, Colville, Spokane, Nez Perce, Coeur d’Alene, Shoshone, Bannock, Warm Springs, Paiute and Rock Creek. Many of the show’s performers and organizers are even descendants of the actors and stagehands from the show’s earliest days.

And not only are these tribal members performers but it also turns out that they control the narrative. In her excellent master’s degree thesis, “‘Let ‘er Buck!’: Race, Gender and Performance at the Pendleton Round-Up, 1910-2000,” Kylee Moneypenny asserts that Indians have always had and continue to retain agency over the storytelling. “Indigenous Happy Canyon participants have also retained the creative agency to add or subtract acts [from the show]” (p. 44). Moreover, “Tribal leaders, such as Anna Minthorn, most assuredly contributed to the ‘original’ narrative of Happy Canyon, yet as accessibility to the narrative increased overtime [sic] other tribal leaders could further refine the story” (p. 47).

Taken together, one insight about our place is that there may be more Indian input and influence around us than meets the eye. Like the Pageant, this reality is true for other aspects of our place. The Walla Walla Fair that ended Sunday? The Executive Director of the CTUIR and other leaders rode in the parade Saturday and also had a large booth and cultural show at the Fairgrounds. Fort Walla Walla Museum? That organization is part of a North American Reciprocal Museum network with and coordinates frequently on programs and exhibits with Tamástslikt Cultural Institute. The design of the statue of Chief Peo Peo Mox Mox downtown near our City Hall? That was created in the early 2000s with significant input and assent from tribal leaders.

In Walla Walla, a community which values broad participation, negotiation and collective input, tribal involvement in many aspects of social and economic life may not be immediately visible but it is likely present and influencing the evolution of our place.

After all is said and done, Happy Canyon’s stories and traditions seem to be exactly what people—tribal and non-tribal—want the event to be. In a fascinating 2013 piece for Oregon Humanities, author and human rights journalist Sarah Shay Mirk discusses how in 2001, the Round-Up director hired an outside writer to rewrite the script to make it, as she said, “more fun and less racist.” That writer “nixed the Chinese laborers, gave the Natives speaking parts, and cut zanier chunks of the play in favor of more accurate history.” Yet, the reaction from participants, Mirk writes, “was swift and crushing.” Documentary filmmaker and Umatilla tribe member Cedric Wildbill recounted, “It was confusing to those that did the show.” Although the following year the changes were eliminated and the script restored, “many people who performed in the show for years quit in annoyance.”

I encourage you to consider experiencing Happy Canyon for yourself. (You can purchase tickets here.) If you go, you may see President Bolton, who told me that she was invited to attend by several CTUIR community members who perform and emphasized that she is looking forward to the show.

And, of course, drive safely!