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Past Tense: February 13, 2020

Front page drawing in the Feb. 12, 1976 issue of the Idyllwild Town Crier. Each year, the Town Crier sponsored a contest for the best Valentine to the community. Margaret Grassi was that year’s winner. Margaret was a fourth-grade student in Doris Lombard’s class at Idyllwild Elementary School. Town Crier Archives ...

Art project to ‘rehumanize,’ one bead at a time

Young girls learn lifelong skills through scouting

Idyllwild has two Girl Scout troops. One is Troop 367, which was started last year by Denise Jones and Jennifer Lozano with the hopes of changing young girls’ lives for the better. The other troop is on a winter hiatus.

The Girl Scouts of America was founded in 1912 by Juliette Gordon, according to the organization’s website. The goal was to teach young girls about success, leadership and adventure. Since then, many young girls have discovered a solid foundation that has carried them into adulthood ...

Funds raised
to begin Saint Hugh’s roof repair

Past Tense: April 9, 2020

Jim O'Brosky, an Idyllwild resident, played his guitar in the biting cold wind at Easter Sunrise Service of the Idyllwild Bible Church at Inspiration Point in April 1980. A crowd of nearly 100 huddled together for warmth in their seats at the 5:30 a.m. service conducted by Pastor Bill Arvan. Town Crier file photo

Idyllwild restaurants struggling

With the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home order in place for an unknown amount of time, Idyllwild restaurant owners are trying to keep their businesses afloat.
Our restaurants are hanging on by a thread and are holding onto positivity the best they can but they need the community support.
Jennifer Fey, owner of Atomic Cow Creamery, has felt the hit in business saying, "We had to close our dining room and we made one of our windows a take-out window. It's working OK but business is way down."

Locals dust off sewing machines
to keep the community safe

Associates name Volunteer of
the Year

The Associates of the Idyllwild Arts Foundation has been recognizing a volunteer of the year since 1970. The honoree's name is kept secret and is known only by the previous year's recipient and the search committee.

The Associates is proud to announce Suzie Bennett as its 2020 Volunteer of the Year. Bennett has been an active member of the Associates since October 2014. 

Idyllwild Arts has new head
of school

Marianne Kent-Stoll has been in education for decades, melding together academics and the arts as she teaches young minds. Kent-Stoll has had a passion for the arts ever since she was a child. 

"I came from a family with three other siblings and a single mom, but she always made sure we were exposed to the arts early," Kent-Stoll said. "I wrote a lot of poetry when I was growing up and took piano and music lessons. She was a great lover of opera and classical music." ...

New business opens in The Fort boasting locally handmade items

Idyllwild is full of amazingly talented individuals. Three of these talented artists have come together to share a space, opening a new store.

The Kilted Craftsman and Credere Organics is the newest business in town located in The Fort between Mountain Footwear and Robin Oates Real Estate. They opened the store on July 4 ...

Art Alliance cancels the 2020 Art Walk
& Wine Tasting

Local resident David Salk has called our mountain community home for 50 years, having moved here in the fall of 1970. In that time, his one-of-a-kind pieces of art have graced the tables and cabinets in people's homes all over the country.

Salk has been working with clay since his early years. He attended Laguna College of Art and Design and University of California, Irvine before he moved to Idyllwild. When he moved here, he was taking ceramics at ISOMATA, now known as Idyllwild Arts Academy ...

COVID-19 Local Update: More businesses have to move operations outdoors or close

With an increase in cases and hospitalizations, the county was ordered by the state to close more businesses if those businesses could not operate outdoors. 

The area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove has a total of 10 cases since the outbreak of COVID-19, the same number reported when the newspaper went to print last week, according to the Riverside University Health System - Public Health (RUHS) website. No deaths have been reported for the area since the outbreak ...

Spotlight: Audrey Carver

Audrey Carver, 21 of Idyllwild, has been quite the artist for most of her life, which makes sense considering how much talent this small town produces.

Carver was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, and moved with her family to Idyllwild before the age of two. She spent her pre-kindergarten time with Kathy Lewis at Lil Critters Child Care before attending Idyllwild School. Carver spent all nine years at Idyllwild School, promoting out as a "Hillbilly." ...

Associates meeting features
Marianne Kent-Stoll

The Associates of the Idyllwild Arts Foundation, aka The Associates, held its monthly meeting via Zoom video conference on Monday, June 8. Marianne Kent-Stoll, vice president of educational programs at Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA), was the featured speaker as part of the ongoing Spotlight on Leadership series ...

Our popular Farmers Market

Fresh produce and natural oils were also available at the Farmers Market on Sunday morning at Town Hall ...

A 100-year celebration of reading
'Between the Pines'

To kick off the year-long celebration, the Idyllwild Library hosted a block party on July 27, 2019 at IdyPark, along with the unveiling of the library's historical timeline in its Community Room.
Photo by Frazier-Drake ...

Spotlight: Marcia Waldorf

Idyllwild has a community full of people from all backgrounds, personalities and talents. Marcia Waldorf fell in love with Idyllwild the first time she came into town in 1969 while on a trip. 

"I had always gone to Big Bear and never had heard of Idyllwild," Waldorf said. "But when I came around that corner and saw Lily Rock, I knew I wanted to live here."

New gallery opens on North Circle Drive

The retail space next to Caf? Aroma has been intermittently filled with art over the years. Golden Pine Gallery recently moved in after the space had been vacant for some time.

Julianna Poldi, the owner, opened the gallery in July.

While Poldi shows her own artistic paintings, she also has other artists' work on display.

"I took the space over in July," Poldi said. "I have the estate of Lynne Mapp Drexler. She was an artist from the 1950s and 1960s."

Poldi also curates paintings from three of her students: Donald Layman, Tim Johnson and Konrad Carter ... 

Past Tense: August 20, 2020

Training sessions by the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit are often held in the local mountains. Photo ran Aug. 15, 1985. Town Crier Archives

COVID-19 Local Update: 21 total cases, one COVID-19- related death

As of press time, there are a total of 21 reported COVID-19 cases since the outbreak and one death reported for the area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove, according to the Riverside University Health System - Public Health (RUHS) website ...

Made in Idyllwild promotes local artists

Idyllwild is a pretty special place. The community is made up of eclectic people with a vast array of artistic talents and personalities.

Diana Orr, co-owner of Wax Apothecary, wanted to help bring all of these talents into one place - Made in Idyllwild ...

Community gifts made for you

What is the "I made this for you" community art project? The Art Alliance of Idyllwild (AAI) thought it was time to cheer up the community. 

After weeks of lockdown and social distancing, AAI's artists stepped up to create some unique art gifts. These gifts have been distributed throughout the town and the AAI will continue to do so until they all have new homes ...

Past Tense: June 4, 2020

COVID-19 impact: Update on local entities, restaurants and markets

Last week the Town Crier gave an update on the status of COVID-19 within Riverside County and here in Idyllwild. By press time last week, Riverside County had 16 confirmed cases and two deaths. As of 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, there are 59 confirmed cases and six deaths in Riverside County. 
There will be more confirmed cases as the number of people being tested increases. Currently, there are two drive-up COVID-19 testing sites - Lake Elsinore and Coachella Valley - in Riverside County that are by appointment only ...

Lori Brookes:
Inspiring others
one hike at a time

Last Saturday afternoon, during a time unlike any we've seen and under a "Stay-at-Home" order, I met Lori Brookes at the base of Deer Springs Trail.

Nature is still one of the few places we are still "allowed" to go. We maintained "social distancing," a term that has quickly become a way of life ...

How adults can find new hobbies

Pathfinder Ranch looks to future

Pathfinder Ranch in Garner Valley was founded in 1964. The nonprofit 501(c)(3) is on an 80-acre property that backs up to the national forest, providing plenty of space for outdoor activities and education.

With summer around the corner, Pathfinder is doing its best to figure out a solution during the COVID-19 pandemic ...

Barnaby Finch tells his story

Barnaby Finch is a well-known name in Idyllwild. A talented musician, Finch can be heard playing at Ferro with Paul Carman and Marshall Hawkins, or past Jazz in the Pines festivals. While Finch is known here for mostly playing jazz, his talents stretch well beyond that.

Finch grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. His father was a good old boy from Arkansas who eventually made it as an advertising executive in Chicago. His mother was a math teacher. While no one in his family was a musician, everyone had a love for music ... 

COVID-19 Local Update: Local numbers increase

Riverside County announced Monday that there is a delay in reporting case numbers, giving the impression that the spread of COVID-19 is slowing. 

Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari said "electronic laboratory reporting is not being submitted to CalREDIE's system in a real-time manner. Riverside County's positive cases in recent days may appear that the numbers are holding steady or flattening, but that's simply not true." 

Idyllwild Community Garden
launches new programs

A comprehensive new schedule of programs and classes for 2020 has been announced by the Idyllwild Community Garden & Education Center (ICG), formerly known as the Idyllwild Demonstration Garden, a 501c3 nonprofit project of Young Idyllwild Inc.

Thanks to the support of a number of Idyllwild volunteers under the direction of educator and community garden development expert Bob Greenamyer and landscape designer April Palmer, the garden infrastructure is now fully realized with raised vegetable beds, an orchard of fruit trees, a greenhouse, compost bin, irrigation system and storage shed ...

Soap shop open in Mile High Plaza

Idyllwild Nature Center receives some TLC

The Idyllwild Nature Center was scheduled to reopen July 8, but on July 1, museums (indoor) were once again ordered to be closed.

Park Ranger Steve Perez spoke with the Town Crier about the work he's been doing while the museum has been closed.

"A lot of the exhibits weren't set up in a coordinated way, so what we've done is consolidate museums into like themes," Perez said. "It's sad to say that a lot of the museum upkeep wasn't done since the '90s. So, it's been an undertaking."

COVID-19 local update: Plans for the new school year in progress

The 2020/21 school year is just around the corner and the Hemet Unified School District (HUSD) will be updating its plan in response to the governor's press conference last Friday. 

As of press time, there are still no COVID-19-related deaths reported for the area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove and there are a total of 10 reported cases since the outbreak, according to the Riverside University Health System - Public Health (RUHS) website ...

Spotlight:
Ron Singerton

Idyllwild local Ron Singerton has been sharing his enthusiasm for history and art his entire life.

After graduating from California State University, Long Beach and serving in the U.S. Army, Singerton spent his 30-year teaching career sharing his passion for history and art with middle and high school-aged students ...

From the Archives: As We Were Saying .