The Larry Smith children on a snowy Easter day in the early 1960s in Idyllwild. Smith was a fire control officer for the U.S. Forest Service.
file photo

70 years ago - 1948

As the Lions entertained in honor of their daughters, Ernie Maxwell contributed a chalk talk on “Feminine Fashion.”

65 years ago - 1953

Two bald eagles were frequenting the Foster Lake area.

60 years ago - 1958

The Chamber of Commerce listed public rest-rooms among its study projects for the year.

50 years ago - 1968

Members of the Idyllwild Youth Club served a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for Town Hall improvements.

45 years ago - 1973

Admission prices at the Rustic Theatre were $1.50 for adults, $1 for students and 75 cents for children.

40 years ago - 1978

General Telephone officials said they would pump $4 million into their Hemet switching office serving the mountain area. Long-distance calls jumped more than 56 percent from 4.7 million calls in December 1975 to 7.3 million in December 1977.

35 years ago - 1983

It was formally announced that Desert Sun School would change its name to the Elliott-Pope Preparatory School.

30 years ago - 1988

A campaign to raise $15,000 for the planned Idyllwild-area emergency radio station was launched by three service organizations — the Soroptimists, Lions and Rotary.

25 years ago - 1993

Business owners and motorists were kept guessing as to why about 100 sheriff’s deputies dressed in black with weapons surrounded a vacant building. The Emergency Services Team of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was conducting a practice hostage scenario.

20 years ago - 1998

About 200 people attended a champagne reception to celebrate the grand opening of the Idyllwild Gallery of Fine Art.

15 years ago - 2003

Idyllwild residents hugged in the lobby of Riverside’s County Administrative Building when Paul Black was denied his Conditional Use Permit for the water exportation business he operated. The county had estimated that Black was exporting 28,000 gallons of water a day from his land.

10 years ago - 2008

It was announced that Idyllwild School Principal Emily Shaw would be moving on to to be principal at Hemet High School.

5 years ago - 2013

Comedy improv night at the Rustic Theatre joined a busy summer schedule of festivals, concerts and an author series.

1 year ago - 2017

The state agreed to provide funding for the Idyllwild Chevron underground storage-tank project.