In March 1969, newly elected Idyllwild School Student Council officers assumed their duties. Identified were Beth Hansen (far right), secretary; Vicki Pena (second from right), treasurer; Gary Winans (third from left), president; and Gary Brown (fourth from left), vice president. file photo
70 years ago - 1947
Idyllwild’s first switch-board was installed at the home of Jess Brown. When prodded for comment, Jess said, “Just don't have anybody phone anybody before 9:30 Sunday morning.”
60 years ago - 1957
May was headed for the wettest on record, with 4.54 inches of rain and snow recorded for the month. Season’s total stood at 20.33 inches and there was snow in the high country.
50 years ago - 1967
Fire commissioners voted to purchase a portion of the Idyllwild Inn property as a site for the new fire station.
40 years ago - 1977
Baker in the Forest was preparing to blow out two candles on a specially baked birthday cake. Owners Allen Goodman and Hilary Phelps invited the general public to join the celebration.
35 years ago - 1982
A discussion of the Idyllwild dump was on the agenda of a Town Hall meeting County Supervisor Kay Ceniceros was leading.
30 years ago - 1987
An on-site waste-water disposal zone was formed in the Idyllwild Water District, but wasn’t expected to begin operation until July.
25 years ago - 1992
The Rotary Club, realizing its yearlong dream, installed the north and south poles and raised the very first display banner over North Circle Drive for the Rotary’s pancake breakfast at Town Hall.
15 years ago - 2002
The local Meals on Wheels program was in jeopardy because of budget cuts.
10 years ago - 2007
A reportedly vicious pit bull, tied up and left by its owner at an Idyllwild County Park campsite, had gotten loose and was shot by Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies.
5 years ago - 2012
Idyllwild Water District directors were reviewing a draft ordinance for mandatory use of recycled water.
1 year ago - 2016
Idyllwild Fire Protection District commissioners voted 4-0 to establish a Joint Powers Authority to provide fire and emergency service to the city of San Jacinto. Commissioner Larry Donahoo was absent.
Last week in “Days of Our Nine Lives,” the ARF cats welcomed Anabel and Tinkerbell to the cattery.
Crue & Jet
Bobbie: It’s news time! Gather ‘round!
George: Did someone get a forever home last week?
Tinkerbell
Bobbie: No, sadly, but ARF did get two new dogs.
George: Do they like us cats?
Bobbie: Actually, they do! The dogs are a dad-and-daughter combo.
Tinkerbell: I saw them on Sunday when I was checking out my new home.
Bobbie: Yeah? Well I met them in the office. They’re pretty cool.
BobbieAnabel
Tinkerbell: The boy looked like a Jack Russell Terrier. Am I correct?
Bobbie: You are. He’s about 5 years old, and for a Jack Russell, he is amazingly quiet and calm. I don’t get it.
Tinkerbell: What about the other dog? She is really cute, for a dog.
Bobbie: She is cute, and she is really snuggly.
Anabel: What do you mean by that?
Bobbie: Well, look who has come out of hiding! Hi, Anabel!! I was saying that Jet really likes to be in a human’s lap.
Joey
Anabel: Is she also a Jack Russell?
George
Bobbie: She’s half Jack Russell. The other half is Chihuahua. She’s only 10 pounds!
George: How old is the little girl?
Bobbie: She’s about 3 years old. And you know, they do have names. His name is Crue, as in Motley Crue. Remember that band?
George: I do! Loved ’em. What’s the girl’s name?
Bobbie: You’re gonna love this. It’s Joan Jet, but she goes by Jet.
Tinkerbell: Joan Jet? She’s great. And you know, I love rock ’n roll.
Anabel: Ha ha, Tinkerbell. I get it.
George: Back to business! Are they ready to go to a forever home?
Bobbie: They are, and if possible, they’d like to go together.
Will Crue and Jet meet some potential forever families this week? Be sure to keep up with the animal antics of “Days of Our Nine Lives” each week. And please stop in to say hello to the entire adoptable cast at the ARF House, 26890 Hwy. 243 on Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 10-2, or by appointment M-F by calling 951-659-1122.
No one sponsored Creature Corner this week. To sponsor, contact Lisa Streeter at [email protected] or 951-659-2145, ext. 13.
Idyllwild 5k/10k race and fitness walk a romp for all ages
You have to be there — literally. And if you can walk, no matter how slowly, there’s a place for you.
For the past 37 years, the second Saturday in June is race day — the Idyllwild 5,000 meter/10,000 meter race and fitness walk celebrates everything that makes Idyllwild a tonic for body and soul: exercise, fresh air and majestic mountain scenery.
Although the race and walk are exhilarating, the half hour or so before the race is idiosyncratically Idyllwild. It’s usually chilly — the sun is just beginning to illuminate sections of Village Center Drive where runners and walkers are gathering. Some are fast-walking around the square to limber up, some are running and some are simply staking out sunlit sections of the street to literally get warm.
Through it all, announcer-in-chief Chip Shelly wittily greets participants by name. Yes, Idyllwild’s that kind of town, where Chip knows most of those who have come out for the race. The mountain air is bracingly fresh but not too cold for locals. Non-locals crowd Higher Grounds for caffeinated warmth.
And for many, if not for most, race day is not about winning — it’s about gathering with friends and neighbors to raise money for Idyllwild School physical education programs and equipment. It’s showing up to make a difference. Over the years, the Race Committee has raised more than $70,000 to fund PE equipment, scoreboards, turf for top field, athletic uniforms and other items for Idyllwild School. Without race proceeds, the school would lack much of the financial underpinning of its PE program.
Occasionally, the race can change lives. Runner and triathlete Bill Whitman first ran the 10k in 1992. “I had such a positive impression of the town and became very intrigued with Idyllwild,” he remembered. Whitman is now a full-time resident and physical therapist/attorney for many town residents.
Race day this year is held on Saturday, June 10. Start times are 7:15 a.m. for the 5k race (slight delay for the fitness walkers), 8 a.m. for the 10k and 9:15 a.m. for the Kid’s Run at Town Hall. There will be an awards ceremony after the race and a pancake breakfast.
The top male and female finishers in the 5k and 10k will receive special awards and custom medallions. Awards also will be given to the top three male and female finishers in each age group of the runs. The top five overall male and female finishers in the 5k fitness walk also will receive awards.
So mark your calendar and consider the salutary benefits of participating — brisk, early-morning mountain air, camaraderie, pom-pom waving race cheerleaders along the race route, Chip Schelly on the microphone as you start and urging you on as you finish, and a post-race hi-carb feast.
This year’s Race Committee includes: Mike Slattery, Darren McKay, Matt Kraemer, Chip Schelly, Leslie Schelly and Garrie Wein. Race information, including fees and registration, can be found at www.idyllwildrace.com.
The third-annual Paws for Rhythm and Brews fundraiser for Idyllwild’s Animal Rescue Friends is Saturday, June 3. The event, with more brewers than the first Paws and Rhythm, will be from noon to 4 p.m. at the Idyllwild Nature Center.
“This is the major fundraiser for ARF. This keeps the doors open,” said Janice Murasko, president.
This year, organizers have invited 16 brewers — beers and hard cider. Among the new and well-known attractions are Absolution Brewing of Torrance, Benchmark Brewery of San Diego, Burning Beard Brewing from El Cajon, Claremont Craft Ales and Golden Road from Los Angeles.
Among the new features of this year’s Brewfest will be a Kidz Zone. Murasko described three different areas to entertain kids. Parents can take turns watching kids have fun while adults can enjoy the whole festival.
The areas are named after this year’s ARF’s photo contest winners — Maximus, Wolfie and Turbo.
Max’s Masterpieces will be an art zone in cooperation with the Art Alliance of Idyllwild. Pet-themed art and face painting will be available, as well as other art activities and workshops.
Wolfie’s Water Play Zone will have a small water park and wading pool.
Turbo’s Tons-o-Fun Game Zone will offer bowling and bean bag tosses.
“I’m excited that it will be great,” Murasko said, but emphasized that each child should have one guardian remain in the zone.
Another new aspect were the VIP tickets. Past tense, because all 20 tickets, for the special price of $100 have been sold — in the first 40 minutes. VIPs will enjoy reserved and shaded seating. They will receive an event T-shirt, lunch, snacks, bottled water and a personal concierge who will get their beer.
A major success last year and returning this year is the silent auction. This year’s possible prizes include two roundtrip Southwest Air tickets to anywhere, a luxury room in a Cabo resort hotel, Disneyland passes, gift baskets from local retailers and many more opportunities.
The ever-popular home brewers contest is open for submission through Friday, May 26. The judging will be Sunday, May 28, at the Coachella Valley Brewery. The winners will be announced at 2 p.m. during the beer fest.
Music will again be provided by the Super 300 Swing Loaded Blues.
Another important returning feature is the free shuttle from the town monument and Idyllwild School to the Nature Center.
For more information, including ticket prices, currently $25, but $30 at gate, and locations, visit ARF’s Paws for Rhythm and Brews website at www.arfbeerfest.com.
Idyllwild Garden Club’s ever popular Mountain Garden Tour is back. Visitors will not only discover Idyllwild’s botanical wonderlands, but each garden will have a Plein Air artist painting on site until about 2 p.m.
The event is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 10.
The Idyllwild Garden Club is again collaborating with the Art Alliance of Idyllwild at this event. There are four unique gardens, seldom seen by the casual visitor, and the event will culminate at the fifth one, the Village Garden at the Idyllwild Area Historical Society Museum where free refreshments will be served.
This self-guided tour, with docents on site, teaches how mountain gardeners have planted attractive native plants with popular garden varieties for year-round flowering and foliage. Walk through a unique variety of gardens in this cool mountain setting.
These gardens showcase inventive successes in dealing with challenges like drought, hillsides, rocks and shade. Using plants native to mountains and to California are examples of how these Idyllwild gardeners create a small wonderland with year-round color, texture and habitat for birds, butterflies and bees.
Tickets are $15 each or $25 for two; children are free the day of the event at the monument on Village Center Drive and at the Idyllwild Area Historical Society Museum, starting at 9 a.m.
Bill Sheppard performing. Photo courtesy Bill Sheppard
Bill Sheppard was there. Right in the center of West Coast rock and roll. Right when it was all happening.
And not many know how big his career was. It turns out, Bill is so modest even his wife and sons did not know how close to the sun he flew with the groups with which he played, sang and recorded.
When Bill tells his story, there is always a smile and a gentle knowingness. And if anyone who reads this had the experience of being fans or groupies of rock or pop groups, or were actually in music from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, you will understand what the smile and nod mean.
It was a unique time in American cultural history and musical evolution. A confluence of events political and social created a vibe that may never again be repeated. “Back then it was magic,” said Bill. “Not a lot of people were [rock] musicians then. You could walk into a room and be immediately accepted. The time was fun, harmless and we were more thoughtful, cheerful and a lot more accepting.”
Bill had his first professional gig when he was 13, playing sax Friday and Saturday nights in Huntington Beach with Denny and the Chancellors, a group with a current record. “We backed all the Motown singing groups that came in,” said Bill.
At the same time, while still in junior high school, Bill was a math brain, winning the Orange County-wide math award in eighth grade. And that is just the beginning of a regular music career that began at 13.
After a few years, the lead singer of D and C quit and Bill took over. Then a group called the Fabs, also with a record, heard Bill singing and offered him the lead singer position in the already successful band. At that time in Southern California, groups soon to be famous were forming and everyone knew everyone. “In 1965 I was asked into a recording studio to do vocals for a group whose lead singer was having pitch or phrasing problems so I laid the vocal on ‘Mister, You’re a Better Man Than I.’ The group was The Yardbirds.
“I would do it all over again in a minute,” said Bill. “It all flowed, it was all connected and it all seemed inevitable. Each new thing just presented itself as the next thing. We didn’t know we were naïve. We were just riding the waves and the waves kept coming.”
And the next wave was the biggest. At 18, five years into his pro career, Bill and two members of the Fabs formed the nucleus of Stack. Stack would develop its own cult following because of its high-energy concerts, and the quality of its instrumentals and vocals. Stack was endorsed by Sunn amplifiers as was The Who. “So, when The Who was not touring, we used their equipment,” remembered Bill. This was before the release of “Tommy.”
Stack released only one album, “Above All.” Bill noted that original copies of the vinyl album now sell for about $7,500, so strong was the concert following for this group.
After two years with Stack, managers wanted to book the group into clubs and require them to play for four hours each night. And that was it for Bill. “I could not perform, at the energy level we did, for four hours and I left for that reason,” he said.
After Stack, Bill arranged, sang and recorded a folk album, while based out of Running Springs. He toured Canada for a year in the summer of 1970 and came back to SoCal and started working night clubs.
As the musical waves continued to create flow, a producer heard Bill singing and tapped him to be part of a new group, Ruby Wheller. The producer bought a house and paid the new group to live and rehearse in the house for a year. “This was a great group,” said Bill. “The music was superb. But we came out of that year just when disco hit. And as a result, we played big venues one time only. We were doing original rock material and everyone wanted disco dancing.”
As part of musically surfing those exciting and formative years in rock and roll, Stack played on the bill with The New Yardbirds (soon to become Led Zeppelin), opened for Iron Butterfly, Three Dog Night, Chicago Transit Authority (later Chicago), The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Jimi Hendrix and Alice Cooper.
After the heady ride, Bill stopped playing for around 15 years, transitioning into being a representative for musical instruments and amps, and creating sound design for major Las Vegas hotels and concert venues.
“On May 15, 2006, my wife Debbie and I came up to Idyllwild on our 24th anniversary for a visit,” he remembered. “We had no plans of moving from our home in Orange County that we were still remodeling. But we drove by a house that was for sale. The price had just been lowered. Forty-six days later, our house had sold and we were living in Idyllwild.” The Sheppards own the local video store and Bill still plays and sings locally.
As an anecdote, underlining his modesty, Bill recounted taking Debbie and sons Billy and Danny to the Fender Museum in Fullerton where a 50-year exhibition about Orange County’s history as a rock and roll mecca was being mounted. “There were walls of displays and booths on each group, including Stack, said Bill. “The kids did not know anything about my history. Even Debbie did not know that much.”
That evening, the family attended a dinner honoring the groups, among them the Righteous Brothers and No Doubt. “Danny looked around and said, ‘You’re in here with all these groups?!!’”
And yes, Bill Sheppard was. He was there. In the middle of it all, just as the Orange County rock and roll wave was ready to ride.
Memorial Day, originally Decoration Day, began in 1866 as an observance to honor Civil War dead, both Union and Confederate. It was called Decoration Day because of the practice of decorating the graves of the more than 600,000 men who died in the conflict.
Over the years, the observance was expanded to honor war dead from all American military conflicts. And the practice of decorating graves, at first annual gatherings of family members to place flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers, also expanded to include decorating graves of family members and friends regardless of military service.
Idyllwild’s American Legion Post 800 will host two events: a Saturday, May 27, hamburger, brats and hot dog barbecue from 1 to 7 p.m. All are welcome to both attend and bring side dishes, if they choose. Admission is $8 but alcohol service at the bar is limited to Post members, vets and member guests; and a solemn commemoration of Memorial Day at 11:00 a.m. Monday, May 29.
At 11 sharp, the Post honor guard will commence the ceremony outside, honoring Post and other Hill veterans who have passed on in the past year. There also will be a formal flag folding, with each fold of the flag honoring dead from a particular American conflict.
Navy Capt. Ned Roberts will talk about his own service and the distinction of being part of a long line of veterans, with combined service of more than 120 years. Post Col. Barney Brause will act as emcee for the ceremony. Afterward, the Ladies Auxiliary will host a complimentary luncheon.
Memorial Day in Idyllwild also is the informal launch of summer recreation, replete with the not-to-be-missed Memorial Day yard sales, the Nature Center Wildflower Show, the Middle Ridge Winery Music line-up, Rotary Pancake breakfast and other “about town” events.
Idyllwild is a very popular destination for off-Hill visitors so plan to make weekend restaurant reservations early.
Grupo Bohemio, the opening act of the 17th Idyllwild Summer Concert Series, presented their exciting mix of Latin and American rock that got most concert-goers on their feet and delighted. Preceding Bohemio was the Stone Creek Stompers featuring Sandii Castleberry. Photo by Tom Kluzak
Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington asked his Board of Supervisors’ colleagues Tuesday to approve using of Community Improvement Designation funds to help the Idyllwild Summer Concert Series. They agreed.
Washington is giving the ISCS $2,500 toward this year’s concerts that begin July 6. However, this year and perhaps next year, the Thursday-night series will be held on the opposite side of Highway 243 from the Idyllwild Community Center property.
This is necessary as the San Jacinto Mountain Community Center board commences the first phase of construction on the site this summer. Phase 1 includes grading, parking and the amphitheater.
The funds will be deposited in the ISCS general fund to help for this summer’s program, according to Ken Dahleen, ISCS founder and producer. Using the new location also has resulted in the need to obtain new permits from Riverside County. The oversight county agencies charge a fee, which has increased the ISCS budget for 2017.
Washington, who also has helped the SJMCC board, was aware of these added expenses and stepped in to help the series and to maintain the series during this temporary interruption.
Roland Gaebert, president of the Idyllwild Rotary Club, delivered 300 pairs of shoes to the Idyllwild HELP Center on May 16. The shoes had been donated to Rotary Past District Governor Chehab Elawar from Skechers. Gaebert picked up Idyllwild’s allotment and delivered them to the center. Gratefully accepting the shoes on behalf of the HELP Center are (from left) Colleen Meyer, executive director; Conor O’Farrell, vice president of the HELP Center board; Gaebert; and Skye Zambrana, client services administrator. Photo by Tom Kluzak
The Idyllwild Rotary Club has again made a significant contribution to the Idyllwild HELP Center.
On Tuesday, May 16, President Roland Gaebert and Past President Chuck Weisbart delivered 300 pairs of Bob’s Clogs to the HELP Center.
“It is a fun opportunity and great potential,” said HELP Center Executive Director Colleen Meyer. “I know it will impact a lot of people. The things [the Rotary] does for us is amazing.”
All 300 pairs are new. Meyer says they are available for purchase in the center’s Thrift Shop and also many will be shared with the center’s clientele.
Behind the unusual and generous donation was Chehab Elawar, the former president of the Rotary’s district, according to Weisbart.
“He is committed to causes,” Weisbart said, describing Elawar. “He comes across manufacturers and is prepared to use whatever they can offer. He’s the ultimate humanitarian.”
In this case, Elawar received 27,000 pairs of Bob’s Clogs from Skechers. He has a warehouse where he stores these supplies as they are shared among the 63 Rotary clubs of District 5330, which includes Idyllwild.
Some have already been taken to orphanages in Mexicali, Weisbart said.
“We can’t do too much for the HELP Center,” Weisbart stressed.
“This was really cool,” Meyer admitted. “It was definitely a surprise.”
After we posed the question: “When was the last time bears were seen in residential aresa on the Hill” on last week’s front cover, a bear visited the Hill. There were several reported sitings, including the Tiso residence in Mountain Center last week. On Friday, he or she visited some Fern Valley residents and ambled up to Humber Park. Photo by Benjamin Tiso
This past week, a bear was seen in Garner Valley. The visitor spent time at the Tiso residence.
"… hung out on our lawn at least three times over about four days. It ate our chickens, chewed our dogs bones and played with the dinosaur toys," Alan Tiso wrote to the Town Crier.
On Friday, Tracy Philippi observed it sauntering up Humber Park.
The Bear ambling through Humber Park. Photo by Tracy Philippi
