Haley Meisenholder moved to Pendleton the only time of year when visitors easily outnumber residents.
Pendleton Round-Up week — the week elite rodeo athletes compete, tourists swarm the city and the community endures the only traffic jams all year. The street in front of Meisenholder’s new Main Street apartment would soon be jammed with vendors, musical entertainment and hundreds of people on vacation. The Dress-Up Parade was in full swing. The Californian looked around with curiosity as she guided her overloaded Toyota Matrix into a parking place in front of the St. George.
Meisenholder, 21, had an 11-month internship with the city waiting for her. Chosen for AmeriCorps RARE (Resource Assistance for Rural Environments) program, she started work Monday of Round-Up week as a volunteer, but found time to soak in her new surroundings, too. The young San Francisco State University graduate had lived in several urban settings in coastal California, but nowhere that could be called rural America. She was more accustomed to rubbing shoulders with surfers than cowboys.
“I had no prior rodeo experience,” she said. “I liked it. I enjoyed the people watching. It was so different. The Round-Up was an overall good time.”
At work, Meisenholder got ready to tackle several projects using the skills she gained while earning her degree in urban planning. She would assist in the city’s transportation plan update and do community outreach for an Energy Trust of Oregon/city project aimed at improving energy efficiencies. Her boss, Public Works Director Bob Patterson, sings Meisenholder’s praises.
“She takes a lot of notes,” Patterson said. “She’s very quiet and unassuming, but a bundle of energy when she gets going. She’s a real go-getter.”
Meisenholder describes herself as a workaholic. She graduated college in three years despite holding down multiple part-time jobs. A barista for four years, she mastered the art of latte art, fashioning leaves, hearts and swans from foam.
Meisenholder says she loves the dialed-down pace of small-town life and enjoys seeing acquaintances wherever she goes. You might bump into her at Great Pacific, which she describes as “my second home,” sipping a pale ale and tapping keys on her laptop as she surfs the web for the latest world news.
The coffee and wine bar is kitty-corner from the St. George where she lives with a tuxedo cat named Sid. During other down time, she enjoys designing and reading. Right now, she’s deep into “Norwegian Wood,” by Haruki Murakami.
Meisenholder once had career aspirations as an architect, but veered into urban planning after she started college. Maybe, she said, it was all that SimCity she played as a kid. As far as plans for after she completes her time in Pendleton, she is leaving her options open.
“The world’s my oyster,” she said.
Originally Published in East Oregonian
211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801
Phone: 800-522-0255