Fall Fest to be held at historic campus

Exhibits, games, music set for today in restored 1883 building

The Fall Fest at the San Timoteo Canyon Schoolhouse, featuring historical exhibits, children’s crafts and live music, will take place 10 a.m.-2 p.m. today at the schoolhouse.

The free event, hosted by the San Gorgonio Pass Historical Society and the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-space District, offers a chance to view the 1883 schoolhouse that is usually closed to the public.

The restored San Timoteo Canyon Schoolhouse is at 31985 San Timoteo Canyon Road in Redlands, just west of Beaumont. It is listed on the National Register

of Historic Places and is managed as a public park by the Riverside County Regional Park and Openspace District.

The Fall Fest begins with a flag-raising ceremony by the Banning High School and Nicolet School California Cadet Corps color guard and a Native American blessing by Ernest Siva of Cahuilla-serrano, president of the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center and Morongo tribal historian and cultural adviser.

The event features selfguided tours of the schoolhouse, an exploration of Native American culture and traditions by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ cultural heritage department and local history exhibits by the Malki Museum, Two Canyons Conservancy and Lorene Sisquoc and the Mother Earth Clan/ Sherman High School .

There also will be free snow cones and cotton candy, a maypole and vintage children’s games, a food truck and live music by Southern California singing cowboy Skeeter Mann.

The San Gorgonio Pass Historical Society, which is hosting the Fall Fest, is an all-volunteer organization that explores the history of Banning, Beaumont, Cabazon, Cherry Valley and San Timoteo Canyon.

For more information, go to sgphs.org.

FILE PHOTO BY JAN SEARS The San Timoteo Canyon Schoolhouse, seen in 2012, will be the site of the Fall Fest today, featuring tours of the restored 1883schoolhouse, historical exhibits and live music.