70 years ago – 1951
Rev. Donald Warner conducted the services at the official opening of the Idyllwild Community Presbyterian Church.

65 years ago – 1956
Customers at Dutton’s Village Market and Corner Store in Fern Valley could make their own ice cream float for 19 cents.

60 years ago – 1961
Pinecraft Furniture company offered 22 pieces of original home furnishings for $999. Pinecraft furniture is now highly collectible.

55 years ago – 1966
The Izaak Walton League, headed by Ernie Maxwell, held its first Woodsman’s Breakfast of the summer season. Of the breakfast, Maxwell wrote, “[It] is an outdoor event designed for informal enjoyment of the forest, touched with the flavor of steaming coffee and cooked bacon.”

50 years ago – 1971
Memorial services were held for Edith Elliott, who with her husband, Richard, started the Desert Sun School in 1930.

45 years ago – 1976
The governing board of the Hemet Unified School District rejected a request made by local residents to open a secondary school in the Idyllwild-Anza area.

40 years ago – 1981
A survey of local camps made by the Town Crier showed that more than 17,000 children and adults were expected to attend some kind of recreational camp in Idyllwild over the summer.

35 years ago – 1986
In hopes of curbing and offsetting the cost of damage in the San Bernardino National Forest by off-road vehicles, the Izaak Walton League voted for support of a public users’ fee for national forests.

30 years ago – 1991
Local residents and visitors were enjoying good-old mountain fun at the Lions Club Timber Festival, and the Soroptimist Barn Dance.

25 years ago – 1996
The Ragsdale cabin, a colorful piece of Hill history that sat at the summit of Santa Rosa Mountain, burned down. The cabin was built in 1937 by Desert Steve Ragsdale, desert developer, pioneer and storyteller.

20 years ago – 2001
Ken Dahleen and several others were seeking donations for the second-annual free Summer Concert Series, which would have six concerts that year held in the parking lot of The Ice House (now the site of the Village Centre shopping plaza).

15 years ago – 2006
Idyllwild lost its beloved Santa, Dale Spickler, who passed away at home at the age of 75. Spicker was active on many boards and in many organizations, but was perhaps most well-known for wearing full Santa Claus regalia that suited his long white hair and beard, and twinkly eyes.

10 years ago – 2011
Bill Lowman left Idyllwild Arts Academy to retire after 25 years as both president and headmaster of the academy.

5 years ago – 2016
Winemaker Chris Johnston and his wife Melody celebrated the grand opening of their new winery’s tasting room and art gallery, called Middle Ridge Winery Tasting Gallery.

1 year ago – 2020
The nonprofit group Team Rubicon and the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) teamed up to help Idyllwild stay a bit safer by providing no-cost fire abatement for low-income and elderly property owners (primary residences) and nonprofit properties.