July 2019 Big Bear Today

Page 2—July 2019
From the Publisher
For 30 Years now
Big Bear Today has
had you cover-ed
Y
ou’re holding the 361st edition of
Big Bear Today Magazine, which
means we’ve just completed our
30th year of publishing in these mountains.
Counting down-the-hill issues of Big
Bear Summer and Ski & Ride Big Bear plus
Big Bear Oktoberfest souvenir book, we’ve
printed over 400 different issues in those
three decades. And that’s not including the
official Winter X Games book published
for ESPN in 1997 and Old Miners Days
Gazettes galore. Plus other pieces like real
estate and shopping guides, even the program
for the Scottish Games put on by Peter
“Scotty” Crawford, on the way to becoming
a major event till the 1992 earthquake
that same day.
The internet was just being invented
when the first issue hit the streets in July
1989. Now we use the worldwide web to
take our magazines far beyond where we
could physically deliver. Anywhere you’ve
got an internet connection, just visit
bigbeartodaymag.com and under the “Print
Pubs” tab select PDF versions that read just
like you’re holding the magazine, every
single page. The links are even active!
When it’s not an ally the internet has
proven to be a voracious competitor
though. Google ad words, Facebook, you
name it first chipped away at ad budgets
and then consumed them.
Yet those predicting print’s demise
were a bit premature. Sure, newspapers
have had a hard time but some are coming
back as advertisers realize that depth of engagement
is just as important if not more
so than reach. Website visits are measured
in seconds whereas print ad engagement
is clocked in minutes. That’s because studies
show people on average read 20%-30%
faster from print than they do online.
Print is tangible, something readers
hold onto instead of scroll right past in
nanoseconds. Publications can be kept
around for days, weeks, even months and
years while surfers blow past websites in
moments, often never to return.
Why, print beats online right from the
get-go! On the internet you “search” (only
after something peaked your interest on a
subject) but with print publications you
find. Want to know what’s happening? It’s
in these pages, with Big Bear’s best
monthly calendar. Where to stay or play?
That’s all we cover.
Good luck finding it online, searching
on a phone screen through a barrage
of bad links and pop-ups. Essentially we
do the Googling for you, and in another
case of internet give-and-take, the web is
the best thing to happen to reporters since
word processing.
And the power of a good front cover
remains undisputed. More info is communicated
on this month’s first page than any
10 websites combined, with sharp color
and design adding to visual appeal that
computer and especially phone screens just
can’t duplicate. People click on their
phones, but stick with their paper.
First-ever Big Bear Today front cover
was shot by the late Richard Millener, of a
gal whispering instructions into a burro’s
ears for Old Miners Days. It wouldn’t be
the last; his photo of the Time Bandit pirate
ship firing canon was another. The
other 358 have featured just about every
way to play, from snow to lake, hike or
bike, plus celebrities like Wynonna Judd,
Eddie Rabbit, Shirley Jones, Olympian
Tinker Juarez, so many more.
Zoo critters, dozens of Community
Arts Theater Society (CATS) shows, museum
stamp mill, rodeos, water slide, you
name it and it’s probably been on the front
cover of Big Bear Today. Even dog sled
races! Always in color as we were the first
print publication in Big Bear to use it. Even
my kids back when they were little, Mike
on a waverunner and Kevin the old hang
gliding simulator, were covers.
Loren Hafen carving the lake on a
single water ski and one hand was the second
cover (see ad on page 19) and it turned
out well, the bright colors of his wetsuit
reflecting off the water, a big thing for
newspaper printing at the time. Thirty years
later, his daughter Lindsay graces this
month’s front page, playing on one of her
dad’s waverunners. You know you’re getting
up there when kids of people you put
on the cover are now on it!
Digging through the archives for this
anniversary issue has been a real trip down
memory lane. Phil Mahre is another Olympian
pictured on the front cover, back when
the Pro Ski Tour visited Snow Summit. We
were there when he put on the most awesome
show on the snow, blowing past the
competition to take the big check.
Glen Plake made the cover twice,
when his Hot Dog ski tour came to Bear
Mountain in 1997 and the following year.
First cover was of the mohawk master soaring
downhill, the second featured him doing
a pole stand. You read that right, he
propped himself up on his poles.
Next up on the cover list: the new zoo.
Hope it doesn’t take 30 years to happen!
Have a good one.
Marcus
ON THE COVER: Lindsay Hafen shows how to beat the July heat on a waverunner, while
Big Bear Today celebrates 30 years of publishing in your favorite mountain town.
Volume 31, Number 1 July 2019
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Publisher
Marcus G. Dietz
Associate Publisher
Sandra L. Dietz
Publishing Consultant
Bret Colson
Technical Consultant
Charles Dietz
Photography
Steve Dietz
John Daskam
Mark Gauger
In This Issue...
Big Bear Today
Waverunners the Way to Play in the Spray
Become one with Big Bear Lake on a waverunner from Get
Wet Water Sports Center. Rides sit up to three comfortable so
parents can go together or bring alonng a kid or two. A few
minutes jumping waves and darting back and forth is a great
way to beat the heat. As are water ski and wakeboard rides,
tube pulls and other ways to play...Pirate ship too!
New Summer Trail at Snow Summit
The first of two trails set to open this summer at Snow
Summit debuted in June. The Bobsled Trail is a fun hike for
the whole family—catch it at the resort’s base area for free or
take Scenic Skychair to the top and hike down. And a second
black diamond for mountain bikers is coming soon!
Ren Faire, Brewsfest, Crafts & Cranks’
The suds will be flowing at some great July events.
Renaissance Faire’s four-weekend run begins July 20-21,
Wyatt’s hosts `Spirits of the West’ Brewsfest with family fun,
and at Snow Summit Crafts & Cranks features mountain bike
racing and riding, beer tasting and carnival rides.
Jefferson Starship, Ted Nugent at Cave
Two rock heavyweights take The Cave stage in July but
they’re not the only top shows The Cave is hosting. Comedian
Pauly Shore is set to crack audiences up and awesome
tributes to Tom Petty and Santana are also on tap. Plus
Metalachi, where metal meets mariachi. And Hinder...
Ecology Lesson, Hiking on Woodland Trail
Learn while you beat feet on the family-friendly Woodland
Interpretive Trail on the North Shore. Pick up a free guide to
the numbered posts along the trail at the Discovery Center and
identify a 1,500-year-old tree, animal highways and native
pine trees and oaks. We bring it to you, on The Back Page.
Discovery Center kayak and canoe tours
are back. See page 17.
DEPARTMENTS
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From the Publisher
Potpourri
New! Area Map/
Calendar of Events
The Almanac
Big Bear's most complete
listings for recreation,
dining, and more.
Big Bear Today is a monthly magazine covering recreation,
dining, nightlife, and events in Big Bear. Reproduction of any
material, without the express written consent of the Publisher,
is prohibited. Advertising/editorial, call Big Bear Today at (909)
585-5533. Mailing address: PO Box 3180, Big Bear City, CA,
92314. Fax: (909) 585-9359. E-Mail: bigbeartoday@verizon.net.
Member, Big Bear Visitor Bureau and Big Bear Chamber of
Commerce. Internet Address: bigbeartodaymag.com
Production: Offset printing by G.W. Reed Printing, Inc.
Color prepress by 2-Bit Studio.
Manuscripts and Art: Contributions are welcome. Big
Bear Today is not responsible nor liable for unsolicited
manuscripts or art. Materials received will not be returned.
© Copyright 2019 Big Bear Today