2024 OCTA Convention Schedule - Pendleton, Oregon - July 21 to 25Wildhorse Casino & Resort is the host hotel. The nightly rate is $131.36 (but that rate is not valid for Saturday, July 20). Call (800) 654-9453 to make your reservation.
Registration coming soon!
(Schedule Subject to Change)
Registration and Raffle Room open 8:00 am - 6:00 pm daily except tour days.
Sunday, July 21
Pre-Convention Tour
8:00 am - 3:00 pm: Western Idaho & Eastern Oregon Trail Sites, ending in eastern Oregon
8:00 am - 3:00 pm: Board of Directors Meeting
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: Board of Directors Lunch
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Welcome Reception
Monday, July 22
8:00 am - 10:30 am: Welcome & General Membership Meeting
10:45 am - 11:45 am: Keynote Speaker Dorothy Firecloud, Department of the Interior Liaison for the National Park Service, Talk Title
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm - 1:50 pm: Jim Hardee, Marie Dorion: A Woman of Fortitude
2:00 pm - 2:50 pm: David L. Nicandri, John C. Fremont's 1843 Expedition to Oregon: Examining Ties to Lewis & Clark and Charles Wilkes
3:00 pm - 3:50 pm: David J. Welch, Route from the Blues to the Whitman Mission and Fort Nez/Walla Walla
4:00 pm - 4:50 pm: Robert “Robin” Baker, Finding the Oregon Trail over the Blue Mountains
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Author’s Night Reception
Tuesday, July 23
8:00 am - 5:00 pm Tour 1: Whitman Route, Base of Blues to HBC Fort Nez Perces/Walla Walla
8:30 am - 5:00 pm Tour 2: Museums Tour (Frazier Farmstead Museum, Whitman Mission, and Tamastslikt Cultural Institute)
8:00 am - 5:00 pm Tour 3: Baker City Interpretive Center, w/stop at US Forest Service Blue Mountain Crossing Interpretive Park to visit excellent rut swale
8:00 am - 5:00 pm Tour 4: Hike in ruts leaving from US Forest Service Blue Mountain Crossing Interpretive Park
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm: Dinner on your own
6:30 pm-9:00 pm: Entertainment by CTUIR Drummers & Dancers, followed by Laura Dean musical presentation, Music in the Westward Expansion
Wednesday, July 24
8:00 am - 5:00 pm: Tour 1 - Whitman Route, Base of Blues to HBC Fort Nez Perces/Walla Walla
8:30 am - 5:00 pm: Tour 2 - Museums Tour (Frazier Farmstead Museum, Whitman Mission, and Tamastslikt Cultural Institute
8:00 am-5:00 pm: Tour 3 - Baker City Interpretive Center, w/stop at US Forest Service Blue Mountain Crossing Interpretive Park to visit excellent rut swale
10:00 am - 5:00 pm: Tour 4 - Downtown Pendleton Tour (Heritage Station Museum, lunch downtown on your own, Pendleton Underground, and Pendleton Woolen Mills). Two shuttle trips will be used, leaving 30 minutes apart.
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Awards Banquet, w/no host bar
Thursday, July 25
8:00 am - 8:50 am: Blaine Harden, The Whitman Myth
9:00 am - 9:50 am: Sam Pambrun, Reading Between the Ruts: Pierre and Kitty’s North American Journeys
10:00 am - 10:50 am: Sarah Hurlburt, Frenchtown
11:00 am - 11:50 am: Kate Kunkel-Patterson, New Mission, Same Legacy: Marcus Whitman and his Shifting Purpose in Cayuse Country
12:00 pm - 1 :00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm - 1:50 pm: Matthew Johnson, The Treaty of 1855
2:00 pm - 2 :50 pm: Bobbie Conner, The Impacts of Foreign Incursion onto Traditional Tribal Lands and Lifeways
3:00 pm - 3:50 pm: Jennifer Karson Engum, The Cayuse Five Project
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm: Chapter Meetings
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Farewell Banquet w/Raffle Conclusion & Live Auction
Post-Convention Tour
Friday, July 26
8:00 am - 5:00 pm: Pendleton to The Dalles
All bus tours leave and return to the Wildhorse Casino and Resort
Event Venue
Wild Horse Casino, Pendleton, United States