Hemet Christmas Parade

Christmas parade

When: 10 a.m. Saturday

Route: About 1 mile along Florida Avenue in Hemet, from Palm Avenue to Kirby Street

Entries: 108, including local bands, dancers and Santa Claus

Grand marshal: Larry Minor, Agri-Empire

Also: "Christmas in the Park" at Gibbel Park, corner of Kirby and Florida, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Information: 951-765-3809

Also; Hemet Jeep Club Joins the Fun,

When the Hemet Jeep Club rolls along Florida Avenue on Saturday in Hemet's annual Christmas parade, it will be on a decidedly easier trail than its rocky (off) road-loving members are used to.

Nevertheless, they enjoy decorating their Jeeps for the season and participating in the event that this year starts at 10 a.m., running from Palm Avenue to Kirby Street and ending at Gibbel Park, where vendors will be waiting to happily to stuff visitors' stockings with arts and crafts and other items for sale.

The Jeep club formed in 1948 as the Hemet Cavalcaders, only eight years after the first Jeep was produced for the U.S. Army.

The club will probably roll out about 20 Jeeps on Saturday, member Randy Weishaar said.

Weishaar is the club's liaison to the San Bernardino National Forest's Adopt-a-Trail program. The club last month received an award for contributing hundreds of hours to Adopt-a-Trail.

The club targets a trail that it frequents on Indian Mountain, picking up trash and fallen brush, clearing drainage grates and even bringing in a small bulldozer to move boulders and carve new culverts.

"It's our way of helping and keeping the forest not only clean, but also to keep the trails open," Weishaar said. "We have a philosophy of treading lightly -- take out what you bring in. A lot of people are lacking that education."

Weishaar said trails are sometimes closed if they are littered or torn apart by people driving off them. Once closed, he said, "it is very, very difficult to get them reopened."

John Miller, deputy public affairs officer for the San Bernardino National Forest, said off-road clubs provide a service that the Forest Service cannot afford.

"We couldn't maintain the quality and breadth of trail opportunities without them, and I say that from the heart," Miller said.

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