A New Visitors Center comes to Idyllwild on July 4th

The Crier sat down with Chris Perreault to hear about the new Visitors
Center in the center of town, next to the public restrooms and capping
the Mile High Plaza shops. Shane Stewart built the space after the
restrooms were installed by the county, demonstrating just how quickly
and inexpensively things can be done when locals do it themselves.
Stewart is also providing the utilities, so this is a low-overhead
operation. The stars seem to have aligned.

All the little needful things like furniture are taken care of, the one
remaining essential is volunteers. The plan is to make volunteering a
light duty, three-hour shifts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Center will open on the 4th of July, and the goal is to be open
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, year round, and all week between
Christmas and New Years.

“If we end up getting more volunteers than expected, we will expand our
hours. All you need is a love for our town and a willingness to help
visitors to our hill have a great time while they’re here. We will train
you to do the rest.”

Perreault is working up a book of frequently asked questions; as an
innkeeper, she’s heard them all. She also plans to have a big, permanent
map on the wall with numbers, and then a “key” that will keep up with
the comings and going of local businesses. There may be opportunities
for sponsoring businesses to “bold” their entries.

Perreault had been thinking about this for a long time. “I was wanting
to do a Visitor Center when I sold Silver Pines and retired, It was my
dream. I even had these beautiful drawings that Dave Lilieholm did, and
permission from Dave Butterfield to build it in the center of town,
inside Idy Park. My husband said ‘I thought we we were retiring, going
to travel. Who do you have doing it with you? Before we spend all that
money to build it, why don’t you plan it, and see who’s going to help
you?’ I’d asked a few people and nobody wanted to do it, it was just
me.”

The dream went on the back burner as Perreault started Good Morning
Idyllwild, an email newsletter geared to locals. Then Stewart, who knew
of her dream, invited her to put it into action. She began thinking
about how to organize it. This included going to Artificial
Intelligence, ChatGPT, with the query: “Give me a business plan for a
small town visitor center.” Now there was a starting place with blanks
to fill in. Financing and location were already in place, the main void
was staffing. Experience scheduling volunteer docents at the Historical
Museum told her this could be a serious challenge.

The idea of a volunteer database came to her, and her work volunteering
with Mountain Community Mutual Aid showed her a working example. Founder
Mark Yardas offered to share their program, even adding a way for
visitors to MCMA’s website to sign up as a volunteer for the Visitor
Center, and sending out emails to members who had signed up previously.
MCMA’s system sends out texts to those on the list whenever they need a
pair of hands for their food distribution. There’s no pressure, but
enough people answer the call that the job gets done.

She found a few like minded neighbors; Marla, at the Art Dept., Arn of
Idyllwild Clothing, Lorie on the board of the Friends of the Library.
“I’m not the kind of person who needs or wants meetings. I asked these
people to come together for a meeting, we only had one. Marla said,
‘Hey, I’m great at graphics, I can do your signs for you.’ Arn helped
with the volunteer application. Everybody is chipping in their ideas.”

Chris explored the idea of creating a more structured organization. She
even called the National Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. “They
said ‘Don’t be a chamber. There’s not that many advantages and a whole
lot of disadvantages.’” A chamber means a board with officers, dues to
collect, tax returns, an entire corporate structure. And although the
Visitor Center will doubtless benefit local businesses, the focus is on
serving the visitors.

Chris seems to be enjoying a very Idyllwild “retirement.” In addition to
Good Morning Idyllwild, she also does the newsletter for Friends of the
Library, volunteers at the Nature Center, and is on the boards of the
Idyllwild Community Fund and Historical Museum.

If you know the town and like talking about it, the Visitor Center has a
spot for you. “If you would like to volunteer to talk to visitors, help
them find their way, and point them in the direction of “A Good Time,”
please contact me at [email protected]. We will be asking
businesses to contribute donations to help pay for recurring costs such
as printing maps, etc. The building and all utilities have been
graciously provided by Shane & Ashley Stewart.”