PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
This year’s Landing Days will give people a chance to see what Umatilla looked like prior to it being relocated in the mid-1960s.
Originally platted adjacent to the Columbia River, the city was relocated between 1965 and 1968 because experts predicted the construction of the John Day Dam would raise water levels and flood the city of Umatilla, 76 miles upriver.
Sixth Street replaced First Street as the city’s business district, and the old town site became the property of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Interest has resurfaced in Old Town in recent years, and this month, visitors to Umatilla Landing Days will have the opportunity to glimpse Umatilla’s past from the ground and from the river.
Ferry re-enactments have been a part of Landing Days since 2010, but the format will change this year, according to Boyd Sharp, ferry organizer.
“This year, with the city’s interest in Old Town and our interest in the Marina, the Landing Days Committee said, ‘Why don’t we take people up and down the river showing people what Umatilla was like in days past,’ ” Sharp said. “We thought that was a great idea, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
During Landing Days, people will be able to sign up for a ride on one of the boats. Once on board, they’ll be given spiral-bound brochures with photos taken from the river before Umatilla’s relocation. Volunteers on the boat will point out sites, such as the Tidewater Docks and Pendleton Grain Growers elevator.
“As we take people up and down and across the river, we’re going to talk to them about the history,” Sharp said. “I think it’s going to be exciting with all we want to do with the Old Town and the Marina and everything the museum is doing on the inside.”
“The inside” refers to bus tours the Umatilla Museum will host through the Old Town site that Saturday.
Umatilla Museum facilities manager Larry Nelson said the organization has received final permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to host the tours. The tours must be approved by the Corps and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
This is the second year the museum has organized tours of the Old Town site, typically closed to the public.
The ferry re-enactments will mark the fourth year this month.
In the program’s first year, about 100 people participated in the ferry re-enactment on one boat. The second year, 200 people took the journey on two boats, and 50 names remained on the waiting list at the end of the day.
Landing Days will take place Saturday, June 22, in downtown Umatilla and at the Umatilla Marina.
The “Dam Run” will kick off the event at 7:30 a.m., and fireworks will light the sky to end the festival at 10 p.m. Vendors, live entertainment, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and activities for children are also scheduled.
