Month: September 2025

Happy Canyon Night Show

I have wanted to attend the Happy Canyon Night Show during the Pendleton Roundup for years. This year, I finally just bought tickets and told Hubby we were going.

When I told my oldest daughter we were going, she asked which seats and in a few days she said she and her husband had tickets not far from where we were sitting. I picked a box seat. I wanted to see it all, not knowing that probably about halfway up the stands might have been a better view. But I’ll try that the next time I go. 😉

What is the Happy Canyon Night Show you ask? It is Oregon’s Official State Outdoor Pageant and Wild West Show. It has over 100 cast members from the Pendleton area and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla. At one point, I think 100 tribal members were standing on the set. It was powerful seeing children, women, and men in historical clothing standing along the rims of the elevated set.

This is the set for Happy Canyon Night Show. This was before it started.

In 1916 the show’s writer Roy Raley wanted to add Native American life before the explorers came to the area. He asked Anna Minthorn Wannassay to help him write the tribal life scenes of the Columbia River Plateau tribes.

Anna had been a student at the Carlisle Institute in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1906 and returning to the Pendleton area. Raley knew of her love for history and community involvement. At Carlisle, Anna had participated in Dramatic Arts. This came in handy as she helped Raley with the script.

In 1917, they performed the added tribal scenes, and the audience loved it. Each year, Anna and Raley added more and more scenes to the show. They preserved history with their show.

I, Hubby, and my daughter and her husband enjoyed the show.

It starts with the tribal members welcoming one another and the start of a day in the life of tribal members before the non-Indians appeared.

There is a scene where four boys return from scouting, having vision quests, and establishing their identities. The chief calls all the tribe together, and the boys tell of their deeds to become men.

Then Sacajawea arrives with Lewis and Clark. The tribe welcomes the weary travelers, giving them food, and company.

A chief’s son has been killed. The first clash with the white man begins. In retaliation, the tribe steals a white girl (who, by the way, had good lungs! Her screams were ear-splitting) The chief appeals to the medicine man, who says the only choice is war. But scouts and plainsmen rescue the girl. I loved the part where they jumped off the cliff into a pool of water under the waterfall. Then the lights went out. All I could think of was “how can I get this into a book with a person found in the pool dead the next morning?” 😉

Cover wagons arrive. They stop for the night and have singing, dancing, and revelry. The Indians attack! There is a lot of noise from gun blasts, people falling on the ground, and horses charging around the wagons and through the people. Then the Calvary arrives chasing off the Indians.

The part that broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes was seeing the tribe, riding horses and walking, with their heads bowed as they were pushed from their beloved home. The scene was the most heart-wrenching and sad. Even the small children had their heads bowed and walked with sadness. (I was so overwhelmed I didn’t take a photo)

Then they changed the backdrop, and it was a frontier town with townspeople rollicking about. This part of the show for me, seemed to last longer than it needed to. I would have loved more of the Native American culture and history.

Then there was a trick roper who was fair. And a trick rider, who was having an off night. Or more likely, her horse was having an off night. It didn’t want to stay in the small area. It kept bolting for the exit.

After the trick roper and rider, there was a Cowboy and Cowgirl Mounted Quadrille. They square danced on horses. It was fun to watch. They did it at a lope and it was thrilling.

This and when he carried the American Flag from here down to the ground, were my favorite scenes.

Next time I will make sure my phone is charged so I can take more photos and hopefully better ones. The night picture taking wasn’t easy for me or my phone to do.

Before the show we walked among the vendor booths. There were a lot of different tribes represented at these booths. And lots of beautiful beadwork. We also walked through the Teepee village where many of the tribal members stayed for the week of Roundup.

You can see the teepee village in the distance. The stage coach was used in the Happy Canyon Night Show.

The stage was so large that you couldn’t always see everything that was going on. Even my hubby said he wanted to see it again because he felt he had missed so much. And that, my friends, means I’ll be getting tickets for next year!

September and a New Book!

I think I say this every month, but where has 2025 gone! We are headed into the fall months with holidays around the corner. This year has flown by for me. With so much going on with my writing and family life, I feel like some of the months are a blur.

Good news with my writing. Book 14 in the Gabriel Hawke Novels is releasing on September 19th. You can pre-order it from here: https://books2read.com/u/bWO1dD

In the remote, snowbound wilderness of Oregon’s Eagle Cap Mountains, a sled dog race turns deadly.

State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is teaching winter survival to Search and Rescue recruits when he’s called in to find a missing musher. Arriving at the race camp, he discovers the musher isn’t just a name on a list—she’s someone his friend Justine cares about deeply.

As Hawke searches rugged trails and icy backcountry, the case quickly shifts from a rescue to a murder investigation. Then a second body turns up, and it’s clear the killer is hiding among the racers, handlers, or volunteers. The deeper Hawke digs, the more he uncovers buried secrets and dangerous rivalries.

Now, with a killer on the loose and Justine possibly in the crosshairs, Hawke must navigate blizzards, betrayal, and bloodshed—before the race ends in even more tragedy.

I’m proud of this book. I did a lot of research and interviewed people involved in the Eagle Cap Extreme Sled Dog Race to make this book come alive for my readers.

Next month, you’ll be able to purchase the first book in my Cuddle Farm Mystery series. I’ll tell you all about it and have a link to purchase the book when I post on October 1st. This book had to be pushed out to October because when my beta readers say there is something off about the book, I listen and rework it. Now my beta readers like it.

I believe the reason they didn’t like my main character the first time was because I hadn’t had enough time with her in my head to get to know her before I started writing the book. All my other mystery series, I’ve thought about the main characters for over a year or more before I began their books. I’d only had Andi in my head about four months when I started writing Merry Merry Merry Murder.

When I started writing the book, I didn’t know her well enough to make her come alive. After writing the book, getting feedback, and thinking about the story, and Andi, I now know so much more about her and was able to show her on the page with more clarity.

Here’s a teaser from the book, Merry Merry Merry Murder:

“Good, you two made it,” Mom said, linking her arm through mine. It had been twenty-five years since I’d witnessed this event. I was excited and happy to be with my family.

“Wouldn’t miss the tree lighting,” I said, gazing up at the dark tree highlighted by the streetlamps behind it.

“I’m going to find Monica,” Rudy said and disappeared.

“When is he going to ask that woman to marry him?” Mom asked.

“Are you ready to get rid of your roommate?” I asked.

“He might as well get married. He’s not sleeping in his bed that much anyway.” Mom huffed and I giggled.

“I’d know that giggle anywhere,” said a voice behind me.

I spun around and stared into the unseeing eyes of my childhood friend. “Betty!” I shouted and pulled the slender, dark-skinned woman into a hug. There was no mistaking the short-cropped curls with a touch of gray, underneath a wide-brimmed hat with Christmas decorations around the crown. Even as a girl, she’d worn outlandish hats. Her mom would give her the hats, and Betty would decorate them.

Betty whispered in my ear, “I’ve missed you.”

Leaning back, I peered under the brim of the hat. Tears glistened in her eyes. “I’ve missed you, too. Tell me how to get a hold of you, and we’ll catch up.” I looped an arm in hers as Cocoa pressed against her legs.

“Who is this?” Betty asked, her hand touching the top of Cocoa’s head.

“One of my therapy dogs. Her name is Cocoa.”

Betty moved her hand down Cocoa’s forehead between her eyes and down her snout. “You are a beautiful creature. I can tell by how calm you are and the aura about you.”

I said quietly. “You see an aura? Have you had surgery on your eyes?”

Betty smiled. “No. But I have a lot to tell you.”

“Let’s meet tomorrow at Bow Wow Brew, say one?” I said, wanting to find out what was up with Betty and seeing auras. “It’s a date.” Betty stood beside me as the mayor appeared on the pavilion

Yes, there is a bit of a paranormal element in this series. It didn’t start out that way, but Betty showed up in Andi’s backstory, and I liked her. So I gave her the ability to see auras even though she is blind. Something unique to her and makes her a bit of a help when Andi is talking to people.

If you aren’t already signed up for my newsletter, you might want to do that. Not only do I give away a mug with my mystery logos on it to one person a month, but author friends give away free books and short stories in my newsletter each month. When they don’t have something, I have free short stories you can get. Go here to sign up: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm