Heritage Day brings crowds to Temecula

Gem Ann Garner --AKA The Spinning Lady (Courtesy Steve Fetbrandt)

Old Town Temecula bustled with people on Saturday and festive holiday wreaths lined Front Street.

The prevailing mood at the Heritage Day festivities held at Sam Hicks Monument Park, however, was one of community pride.

Hosted by the Temecula Valley Historical Society, numerous organizations provided authentic entertainment and reenactments of life in Temecula circa 1880. And locals were out in force to proudly display their heritage.

“We’re our own little historical society, preserving the history of the West,” said Tim Kimble with Old Town Temecula Gun Fighters, a local organization that supports a wide variety of community events with historical demonstrations of life in the Old West.

“We actually travel everywhere to support local groups. We work with families of deployed troops in Camp Pendleton and participate in fundraisers for causes like Wishes for Children and the Michael J. Fox Foundation,” Kimble said.

He said that the Gun Fighters offer demonstrations at Butterfield Square the fourth Saturday of every month, from Jan. through Oct.

Anza resident Gem Ann Garner, the Spinning Lady, was happy to showcase her skills at spinning yarn.

“It’s one of the original things mankind figured out how to do. Probably directly after inventing the wheel, our ancestors developed a way to spin yarn and turn it into thread and clothing. It’s amazing to think that the sails of the monster ships of the day were held together with thread made like this,” Garner said, holding up a sturdy string as she spun it.

Garner said that spinning yarn has been “a crazy little hobby that just keeps on growing” over ten years and estimates that the hobby has continued to grow in popularity with the recent introduction of local alpaca farms.

The Ramona Outdoor Spanish Dancers performed, along with Paco Suarez who has served as a dancer and choreographer with the group for 19 years. Suarez, who retired from show business in 1974, said that his association with the famed Ramona Bowl is a great source of pride and a labor of love. “It’s beautiful. Each year I get to train new generations of dancers. People have really enjoyed our work. It’s a great promotion for the Ramona Pageant,” Suarez said.

The Ramona Pageant brought its own genuine love story to the event with its signature characters. For the first time in nearly fifty years the roles of Ramona and Alessandro are being played by real-life husband and wife Cesaria Hernandez and Duane Minard. The couple was married in 2000 at the precise spot they first met at the bottom of the Ramona Bowl.

The Ramona Pageant Dancers

Also in attendance was the Valley of the Mist Quilters Guild who, with just over one hundred members is in its 20^th year of carrying on the tradition of quilting. Many of their ornate squares or quilts are auctioned to support local charities, including Quilts of Valor.

For more information on the day’s events, visit www.temeculavalleyhistoricalsociety.com.

Kerri S. Mabee can be reached at ksmabee.swrnn@gmail.com with comments or questions.

Tags: Anza, Heritage Day, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Ramona Outdoor Spanish Dancers, Ramona Pageant, Sam Hicks Monument Park, SWRNN, Temecula, Temecula Valley Historical Society

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Dance, Environment, Food, Lifestyle, Local News, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.