Fort Dalles Days suspended

“Nobody’s willing to say Fort Dalles Days are never going to happen again but we just felt this was a good year to step back and re-address the situation.”

Buce said the committee also wants to look at whether the annual celebration of local history should take place at another time of year. She said it has topped 100 degrees during activities in July the past two years and that has made it difficult to plan things in venues without air conditioning.

“We had 4-H kids with their animals in the Anderson barn (at Fort Dalles Museum) and the heat was just oppressive,” she said.

May is recognized as National Historic Preservation Month and Buce said the committee is considering whether to plan an activity that month.

“It may not be such a big community-wide event but we could do something then— and it will probably be much cooler,” she said.

Even without a rodeo and Fort Dalles Day activities, Buce said there will be plenty of things happening in the gorge this summer — such as a parade of antique cars in July — as part of the centennial celebration of the Historic Columbia River Highway.

“The dedication of the highway was in 1916 but it wasn’t actually completed until 1922 so the centennial could go on for the next five years,” said Buce.

The Fort Dalles Rodeo Association announced last August that, due to the sale of property it had leased off River Road since 1975, plans for the 2016 event would be suspended.

Damon Hulit, president of the association, said at that time the nonprofit organization would be looking for a 25-26 acre property near The Dalles or Dallesport that could be developed into new rodeo grounds.

“We may have to skip the rodeo in 2016 while we are figuring thins out but we would like to return in 2017,” he said.

Once the next rodeo is on the calendar, Maggie Wood, steering committee chair, said there will be a call for people to meet and plan new Fort Dalles Days happenings.

“We thank everyone whose sponsorship made the event possible and the many, many people who worked at or attended the many events over the years,” she stated in a recent press release.