Past Tense
75 years ago – 1948 Sen. William Knowland, an overnight guest at the Idyllwild Inn, met formally with Hill residents to discuss local affairs.
70 years ago – 1953 Ladies of the American Legion Auxiliary met to sew gift projects for the Veterans Hospital.
65 years ago – 1958 The Rotary Club announced a Halloween party for grade-school students. The Lions Club was feting teenagers.
60 years ago – 1963 A Cal Electric construction crew started work on a new 33,000-volt line that would double the volume of power in the Idyllwild area. It was to supplement the line that was extended from Mountain Center in 1947.
55 years ago – 1968 A representative of J.P. Edmunson Co., nationwide tourism firm, announced the company had purchased 2,000 acres in Garner Valley. The firm mentioned plans for 2,000 to 2,500 vacation homes initially, plus a golf course and lake.
50 years ago – 1973 There was excitement when the Idyllwild County Water District tested a new well in its watershed a mile above Foster Lake. The well was producing 100 gallons a minute at 560 feet.
45 years ago – 1978 Hill residents talked about what they were doing to win the battle against inflation. Some solutions offered were growing a vegetable garden, burning wood as fuel and buying food in bulk.
40 years ago – 1983 A school bus crash was simulated as part of a training exercise involving mountain emergency service units. Representatives from the Idyllwild Fire Department, California Department of Forestry, Mountain Area Disaster Preparedness, U.S. Forest Service, the sheriff’s office, Hemet Valley Ambulance service and Mt. San Jacinto State Park participated in the exercise.
35 years ago – 1988 Then-owners of the Rustic Theatre Morrie and Sara Bronson were fighting Riverside County over regulations requiring them to build a parking lot with 84 parking spaces.
30 years ago – 1993 A tree on Lodge Road fell and crushed an Acura Legend owned by Lynda Allen of Fern Valley. Strong winds caused the tree to fall. It was removed later that day.
25 years ago – 1998 After 34 years of volunteer service, George Kretsinger retired from the Idyllwild Fire Protection District.
20 years ago – 2003 As wildfires raged in Southern California, the annual Great Pumpkin Parade was canceled and the carnival events were moved indoors to Idyllwild School due to fire-safety concerns on the mountain.
15 years ago – 2008 Idyllwild resident Greg Schultejann completed the last leg of a four-day, 420- mile bicycle charity ride to raise money for Marines injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Schultejann and the other 20 cyclists raised more than $70,000.
10 years ago – 2013 four Idyllwild School students participated in the National Football League’s “Pass, Punt and Kick” contest. All of the Idyllwild kids placed in their competitions. Breanna Lewis and Chayton Kenyon were first in their divisions. Chance Vladika and Chloe Schelly were third in their divisions.
5 years ago – 2018 Riverside County voting favored incumbents: Raul Ruiz, Jeff Stone and Rhonda Andrewson, except Chad Bianco defeated Stan Sniff for sheriff.
1 year ago – 2022 Idyllwild Arts Academy’s Visual Arts program held an opening reception for this year’s Visual Arts Student Theme Show, “Identity.” The last year, everyone was masked up and more subdued because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
