Annual Daddy Daughter Dance Postponed

Pendleton Parks and Recreation has decided to postpone the annual Daddy Daughter Dance indefinitely. The determination was made after much consideration over the uncertainty of Umatilla County risk level progression.

“What makes the Daddy Daughter Dance so special to our area is the investment by our community,” Parks and Recreation Director Liam Hughes states, “Families take great effort to prepare for the dance, and businesses offer special menu and promotions to serve those families. We feel we cannot sell tickets for the event until we can say with a high level of certainty the event will be able to happen.”

The Daddy Daughter Dance was originally set for February. With hopes that the pandemic’s effects in Umatilla County would improve enough to be at the correct risk level, it was postponed to May 15th. The family-favorite event would not be able to occur in the current risk level, or the “Moderate” risk level for that matter. OHA guidelines for counties in the high-risk category set the maximum attendance at this type of event to 50. And for counties in Moderate risk, the maximum attendance would be 100.

The Daddy Daughter Dance has sold out every year in recent history with an attendance of 675. “We are extremely disappointed to make this decision,” Recreation Supervisor Jonathan Bullard explains, “with the current guidelines and policies we have to operate under, we are unable to host the Daddy Daughter Dance to the standards this special night requires. We look forward to hosting this special event again when we can.”