

Photo: ICRC Speaker Series — Rich Stergulz
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All proceeds support scholarships for local women and girls Soroptimists International of Idyllwild holds its annual fundraiser Basket Festival and Spaghetti Dinner on Wednesday, Oct. 25. Featured baskets are worth a minimum of $1,000 with many valued at nearly $2,000. Tickets are $5 each or five for $20. When one buys tickets (at the Idyllwild…
“Some people think lilacs are just an Eastern thing,” said Gary Parton, Idyllwild’s lilac patron. But even though most longstanding lilac festivals are in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S., Parton and his new committee want to establish Idyllwild as a nationally known lilac town. This year, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 2, the Idyllwild…
Idyllwild Arts Academy held its annual Black History Month Concert Saturday night in the William M. Lowman Concert Hall on campus. The hall was filled to capacity with jazz fans, as well as students, faculty and staff. “Afro-American Symphony” by William Grant Still and special performances by Seahawk MoJO (Modern Jazz Orchestra) featuring music from Duke Ellington, Thelonious Sphere Monk and Daniel Jackson rounded out the evening. At left: Black History Month Concert Founder, Conductor, Arranger and Composer Marshall Hawkins (right) watches with the orchestra as the percussionists and traditional dancing take to the stage before intermission. Above: Idyllwild Arts Academy music major Sumi Onoe performed as the piano soloist with the Idyllwild Arts Orchestra, opening the Black History Month Concert with “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin. Sumi and the orchestra received a standing ovation for the performance.
By Holly Parsons, aka DispatchCorrespondent For two hours Dispatch waited for Sunflower [trail name] at the base of Devils Slide that fateful night. She learned from lingering hikers that a group of Europeans were camped above and took solace that he was safe and too exhausted to descend despite his call for pick up earlier…
“Despicable Me” was shown on a giant screen at Town Hall on Friday, Sept. 23 to about 100 residents. Prior to the showing, Town Hall Director GeGe Beagle interviewed actress and Idyllwild native Elsie Fisher, who was the voice of the youngest sister, Little Agnes, in “Despicable Me.”
In Idyllwild’s commercial core, businesses come, go, and change ownership and business models. Staying profitable in a small town that depends on both local support and tourist dollars is demanding. Two businesses, both art-based, are closing shop – Lightbender Art Studios on Highway 243 and Jerry Art in Oakwood Village. A third is changing its…