Past Tense: March 11, 2021

70 years ago – 1951
The Forest Service announced that, beginning in summer, it would issue a special certificate to everyone who climbed to the Tahquitz Lookout. They would be issued a membership card in the “Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels.”

65 years ago – 1956
All Hill residents were invited to a baby shower given for Barbara Wilson Hunt, about to give birth to a third generation Idyllwild resident. The shower was held at Ida Wilder’s home.

60 years ago – 1961
The first official step toward solving Idyllwild’s looming sewage crisis was taken when the Chamber of Commerce voted to engage engineers to make a preliminary sanitation survey.

55 years ago – 1966
Hemet Unified School District authorized action on sale of sufficient bonds to cover construction costs for a new kitchen at Idyllwild School, which was using a small area off the main hallway the school superintendent deemed as “terrible.”

50 years ago – 1971
It was announced that permits would soon be needed for use of national forest and state park wilderness areas.

45 years ago – 1976
The 39ers Club was conducting a survey to determine interest for a “Meals for Senior Citizens” program in Idyllwild.

40 years ago – 1981
Memorial services were held at the Idyllwild community Presbyterian Church for longtime Idyllwild artist Jon Gnagy, known as “America’s Television Art Instructor.”

35 years ago – 1986
An 80-pound dog was attacked by a mountain lion in the yard of his owner’s home on Overlook Drive in Pine Cove. This was the second reported attack on a family pet in a two-month period.

30 years ago – 1991
Local Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit members were helping to search for 3-year-old Travis Zwieg who had wandered away from his father who was chopping wood in Pinyon Pines. The child was never found. (Editor’s note: This was edited to correct his age the year Travis went missing. It originally said he was 2 years old. The sheriff’s department lists the year he went missing as 1993. The year he went missing, according to our archives when the story ran, is 1991.)
25 years ago – 1996
A petition signed by about 80 local residents influenced Fairway Market’s decision to stock organic produce.

20 years ago – 2001
Nearing the end of its five-year capital campaign drive, Idyllwild Arts Academy had raised all but $750,000 of its original $9.3-million goal.
15 years ago – 2006
“Snow buries the Hill,” read the Town Crier’s front page headline after a snowstorm that began Friday left 17 inches on Idyllwild and 22 inches on Pine Cove by Sunday. The local CHP dealt with 26 traffic collisions on the Hill and 30 vehicles stuck in snow over the weekend.

10 years ago – 2011
It was just past the mid-point in planning for the new Idyllwild Community Center Playground and Park being built by the Idyllwild Community Recreation Council. Organizers were taking stock of where they were and what was still to be accomplished.

5 years ago – 2016
Idyllwild Master Chorale’s spring concert, under the baton of Dwight “Buzz” Holmes, was the first choral concert at the newly opened William M. Lowman Concert Hall on the Idyllwild Arts campus.

1 year ago – 2020
Two students from Idyllwild School, Rory Lovette Jensen (third place) and his older sister Natalie Lovette Jensen (fourth place), placed in the top four at the Hemet Unified School District annual spelling bee.