By Marsha Kennedy<\/p>\n
Idyllwild Snow Group<\/p>\n
The effectiveness of new county road signs and the Idyllwild Snow Group\u2019s Facebook campaign was given a test two weekends ago, as Idyllwild received a large influx of people who came up expecting snow. Here\u2019s a sampling of reports from residents:<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked to see so many snow-play visitors in town, and when I drove down off Hill around noon yesterday the incredible parade of cars coming up overwhelmed me. On top of that, I witnessed another constant parade of looky-loos, driving on my own street, just looking for places to play. I had never seen that before!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTown was crowded, more than on a regular winter weekend. They came up anticipating snow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople started sledding down the middle of county park road this morning (on ice, not snow). I had to get out and tell them that was not safe. They said, \u2018But the park charges.\u2019 The children\u2019s mother added, \u2018I\u2019m watching for cars.\u2019 Geez ...\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo evidence of people being on our property this weekend. We seem to have more remaining snow than most, so I\u2019m surprised.\u00a0 Maybe the street signs worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new signs at Humber Park Trailhead worked great, however, I noticed it did push people further up where they parked all over above the signs in the Forest Service area.\u201d<\/p>\n
On our Facebook page there was a variety of comments from folk both on and off the Hill. One flatlander stated, \u201cI\u2019ve learned to just take chances, go high enough you\u2019ll get snow ... there are lots of public areas you can go.\u201d\u00a0 By \u201cpublic areas\u201d does she mean, \u201cpeople\u2019s yards?\u201d<\/p>\n
There also was this colorful response to our post that Caltrans required tire chains: \u201cF--- chains\u2026 f--- it start drifting around them corners. We all gonna die one day you can\u2019t stop that \u2026 so just take a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Saturday and Sunday the Snow Group was busy responding to questions and posting updates on the Facebook page Idyllwild Snow. We also posted messages on a high-traffic Hemet Facebook page about our lack of snow and about Caltrans tire chain requirements. We know that thousands saw our posts, and we know we persuaded some not to come up.<\/p>\n
The problem remains, however, that thousands more in Hemet, the Coachella Valley and Banning still haven\u2019t heard that Idyllwild just doesn\u2019t have much to offer to those looking for snow play. With several inches of snow in the forecast for next weekend, snow-play visitors will likely descend upon us in droves.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s imperative that we reach larger numbers of potential snow-play visitors to educate them and to adjust their expectations. Indeed, it will take a village to do it.<\/p>\n
This weekend, residents need to place their signs in their yards or berms. If you are on social media, please share our Facebook Idyllwild Snow posts with any group off the Hill of which you are a member.<\/p>\n
If you notice any trespassing or illegal parking, call the sheriff or CHP. We must turn our situation into numbers they record and count.<\/p>\n
Please visit Facebook pages Idyllwild Snow and Idyllwild Snow For Locals. Our web site is idyllwildsnow.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Marsha Kennedy Idyllwild Snow Group The effectiveness of new county road signs and the Idyllwild Snow Group\u2019s Facebook campaign was given a test two weekends ago, as Idyllwild received a large influx of people who came up expecting snow. Here\u2019s a sampling of reports from residents: \u201cI was shocked to see so many snow-play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":411076,"featured_media":50022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n