70 years ago – 1952
A meeting was announced to consider school unification. Under the proposal, Idyllwild’s school would be combined with the Hemet-San Jacinto District.

60 years ago – 1962
Logging trucks started rolling into May Valley, where the Big Bear Timber Company began salvage operations on pines damaged by severe insect attack. About 4.5 million board-feet of lumber was to be cut.

50 years ago – 1972
Adults were only being charged $1.50 to watch “Blue Water, White Death” at the Rustic Theatre. Students were charged $1 and children were charged 75 cents.

45 years ago – 1977
The Idyllwild Elementary School Parents Club sponsored a pancake breakfast in Town Hall.

40 years ago – 1982
A fundraising Spaghetti Dinner for the Idyllwild Softball Association was scheduled for May 24.

35 years ago – 1987
For the third year in a row, Hill resident and potter David Salk received the “Award for Excellence” in ceramics at the La Quinta Art Festival.

30 years ago – 1992
At the RadioShack that used to be located in Strawberry Creek Square, cassette players were being sold for only $29.95 — and that was with $10 off.

25 years ago – 1997
A trio of angry parents complained about a school bus driver during the Hemet Unified School District board meeting. They criticized his behavior toward their teenage sons and daughters.

20 years ago – 2002
Riverside County Health Officer Gary Feldman announced that, due to the shortage of antivenom nationwide, there wasn’t enough antivenom at any hospital to treat a single case of serious snake bite.

15 years ago – 2007
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco announced that he would seek the death penalty for Raymond Oyler, an arsonist responsible for the deaths of five U.S. Forest Sevice firefighters in October 2006.

10 years ago – 2012
It was announced that six long-time Idyllwild School teachers — Iva Botton, Patty Carratello, Diane D’Arcy, Joan Gray, Holly Guntermann and Vic Scavarda — were retiring at the end of the term.

5 years ago – 2017
The Idyllwild School PTA smARTS Project received the 2017 Community Partnership Award from the Arts Schools Network, the nation’s largest professional membership organization of specialized arts schools.
1 year ago – 2021
The Idyllwild Community Center reopened the Saturday Mountain Market in the parking lot of the Idyllwild Community Playground.

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