The Lemon Lily Steering Committee met Wednesday, June 5, as plans for the fourth Lemon Lily Festival firm up. The festival will be the weekend of July 13 and 14 at the Nature Center.

In Dave Stith’s absence, Sue Nash gave an update on the Lemon Lily plants, which should be blooming during the festival. The lilies are being propagated in greenhouses and gardens throughout the area. Plans are to plant some bulbs in the demonstration garden at the Nature Center, according to Nash.

Anna Marie Padula has created a Lemon Lily quilt for the raffle this year. She designed the pattern from artist Colin Smith’s prize-winning poster from last year. Scott Fisher and others have taken the quilt to the Balloon and Wine Festival in Temecula and will be taking it to the Lavender Festival in Beaumont. The quilt will soon be on display at the Post Office where tickets for the raffle may be purchased. More than 400 raffle tickets have already been sold.

Again this year, 10 artists have been selected to paint banners, which will be hung on the light poles in town to advertise the festival. Later they will be auctioned at an event not yet determined.

The bluegrass music in the center of town is shaping up. Several of last year’s favorite acts are retuning. Jamie Olsen will be performing Alison Krause songs on Sunday.

New acts this year include Aunt Sandii (Castleberry), who will kick off Saturday, and the Webb family band from Joshua Tree with 8-year-old Forrest burning up the bass. Doug Austin also returns as emcee.

The committee, spearheaded by Bryan Tallent, has been meeting monthly since last year’s event. In March, members started meeting biweekly and now they meet at 10 a.m. every Wednesday at the Nature Center.

Tallent remarked, “It has taken us four years to really get organized into committees. And we still need to find a way to get more people from the community involved.” Many volunteers are needed and a volunteer orientation occurs a week before the festival so folk know more about their roles.

If interested, contact Bryan Tallent at [email protected] or call 951-659-5556. The festival’s website is lemonlilyfestival.com.