Photos by Stacey BaileyThe street will be closed to accommodate all of the activities that will be happening. ■ By Stacey Bailey / Contributed Harvard Street will once again host the Ramona Spring Festival to kickoff the Ramona Pageant Season beginning on April 6. The street will be closed to accommodate all of the activities that will be happening. The festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All of the Harvard street merchants will be having specials on that day. The street will be lined with classic cars and on the stage located on the south end of Harvard there will be a variety of performances. Last year’s (more…)

Dinner theater entertains Hemet audiences Mark LentineFrom right to left Melanie Rose Johnson, Noah Peterson, Frank Jaramillo, Paola Cifuentes, previous cast members of Play With Your Food Productions. ■ Mark Lentine / Contributed Nadine Gordimer, writer and activist once said, “A desert is a place without expectation.” And out here, in the sleepy little desert town of Hemet, we have the most unexpected taste of more cosmopolitan surroundings: dinner theater. Play With Your Food Productions is a wonderful little venue that’s been treating patrons to established and first-run plays for over a decade. “I had directed many shows at the high school, community and college levels, but nothing prepared me for (more…)

Photo by Chris SmithDan Boulton (center blue shirt) during a recent rehearsal with Hemet High Jazz 2 at Hemet High school. ■ Jason Miller / Contributed Last month, the Chronicle featured the Hemet Unified Annual Jazz Festival. Recently, we sat down with the Director of Bands at Hemet High, Dan Boulton, who has served in that role since 2007. Before that Boulton, a native of California who grew up in Hemet, served at Dartmouth Middle School as their band director for eight years. Boulton oversees six bands which include the symphonic, concert, and marching bands along with “Jazz 1” and “Jazz 2,” which were featured at the aforementioned jazz festival along (more…)

2019 Hemet Valley Wheelchair Soccer Tournament ■ By Rusty Strait / Senior Reporter It was like a day at the fair. No matter the rain, the celebration took place inside a skating rink with a separate section where the kids could play games and enjoy childhood pleasures. The arena was filled with the excitement of a county fair with ribbons and medals, politicians and military figures and more than 250 spectators. What was this you may ask? It was the 2019 Hemet Valley Wheelchair Soccer Tournament, officially sanctioned by the U.S. Power Soccer Association. When the front doors opened at 8 a.m. on Mar. 2, Capt. Glenn Brock of the Hemet (more…)

Mt. San Jacinto CollegeIn “Endless Europe,” an oil canvas painting by Nick Potter, the modernist architectural elements and furniture of Mies Van Der Rohe are symbols of success, however we are aware that something isn’t quite right. ■ Mt. San Jacinto College / Contributed The Mt. San Jacinto College Art Gallery is excited to announce the new exhibition “Brace Yourself,” which launched on Mar. 4 and runs through April 18 on the San Jacinto Campus. This exhibit, from guest curator and MSJC Associate Professor of Art Eileen Doktorski, brings together a collection of figurative works representing portraiture, architectural environments, hybrid images and performance art, each conveying a unique expression of human (more…)

■ Trinity Houston / Contributed The Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema, one of California’s best known independent film festivals, entered its tenth season on Mar. 5 and will continue through Mar. 10, with a new look and a few very lofty goals. Setting its sights on an Oscar accreditation for 2020, the festival organizers promise a future full of great independent films and even more Hollywood star power. With a grand jury that includes A-Lister Anne Archer at its helm, renowned cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia, actress Irene Bedard (the voice of Disney’s Pocahontas) and Queen drummer Roger Taylor, among others, IIFC will hit its aluminum anniversary with a bang. With an (more…)

Black History Month program held in gymnasium Photos by Dennis FletcherSome of the organizers of the Black History Month program at San Jacinto High School include (from the left): Dr. KiMi Wilson (keynote speaker), Anaya Crouch (BSU President and student representative to SJUSD), Dr. Rose Henderson (SJHS Asst. Principal), Capt. Leonard Purvis (Rivco Sheriff Dept.), Angela McClaron (SJHS Counselor), Alayna Arrington-Harris (SJHS Counselor), Jasmin Rubio (SJUSD Board Member), Diane Perez (Superintendent of SJUSD), Antoinette Miles (SJHS ASB Director). ■ Anaya Crouch & Dennis Fletcher / Contributed On Friday, Feb. 8, the gymnasium at San Jacinto High School was filled to the rafters with about 350 enthusiastic students, parents, teachers and administrators (more…)

Chinese hot pot is the dish of choice to usher in the new year Photos by Mariana RosenMariana Rosen is pictured front row, second from right, in a cooking class that she taught recently. ■ Dennis Fletcher & Mariana Rosen / Contributed The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the longest festival in the Chinese calendar. It has been celebrated for over 4,000 years. This year it began on Tuesday, Feb. 5 and ended with the Lantern Festival on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The most important elements of Chinese New Year are eating, fireworks, and dancing lions and dragons in the street. The Chinese Zodiac has 12 signs, each an animal. (more…)

Soboba Band of Luiseño IndiansFreshman Lanise Luna participated in an Interview Skills Day at Noli Indian School on Feb. 13. ■ By Mike Hiles / Contributed Teaching academic basics to students is the expected role of any educator but making sure young people are prepared to be successful in life after school takes more than being good at reading, writing and arithmetic. Elizabeth LaCella has taught Honors English for the past eight of 12 years she has been at Noli Indian School. She is also one of the AVID program teachers for middle and high school students at the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians reservation school that serves Native American students (more…)

HUSD hosts annual jazz festival at Tahquitz High School Photos by Jason Miller / The Valley ChronicleEducators Craig Yancey (left) and Gary Pratt (right) between performances at the Jazz Festival/Clinic ■ By Jason Miller / Contributed Students from seven schools across the Hemet Unified School District gathered for the annual Jazz Festival/Clinic at Tahquitz High School this past Saturday. On Feb. 10, the event was hosted by Jeremy Pietsch who is the Department Chair/Band Director of Tahquitz High School and conductor of two THS jazz bands. “This was Tahquitz’s first year hosting the festival”, according to Pietsch. The festival in prior years was hosted by Hemet High School. Following each band’s (more…)