MENDOCINO NAIONAL FOREST, Calif. – Nearly 600 California-based U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighters and support personnel have been mobilized to wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico.

The personnel that are part of this mobilization come from all 18 national forests in California that make up the Pacific Southwest Region.

Among the firefighting resources are 19 engines, 18 fire crews (20-person) including three hotshot crews, a helicopter and over 100 specialists such as dispatchers, safety officers, aviation managers and fire prevention patrols.

The Mendocino Hotshots are one of the three hotshot crews assigned to the Southwest.

“We have the largest wildland fire response organization in the country,” said Jeanne Wade Evans, deputy regional forester for the Pacific Southwest Region. “We’re prepared for our wildfire season in California and have the capacity to provide these national firefighting resources to the Forests and communities in the Southwest.”

California experienced one of the wettest winters on record and fire activity on national forest lands in the state has been minimal thus far.

The U.S. Forest Service has about 5,000 firefighters in California for the 2017 season.

For interagency wildfire information nationwide, visit InciWeb at: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ . For additional information on wildfires in the Southwest visit http://www.wildlandfire.az.gov/ (Arizona) and https://nmfireinfo.com/ (New Mexico).

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Local historian Harley C. Foster will be the featured speaker at the History Day on July 24 at the Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum in Kelseyville. 

Foster, a native of Upper Lake, will be discussing a variety of Lake County history topics, including the early days up through the 1860s, old roads and trails, cattle brands, and an early newspaper.

History Day begins at noon and will run until 2 p.m. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome to hear Foster's presentation and tour the historic Ely Stage Stop, barns and grounds.

The event is put on by the Lake County Historical Society, or LCHS, who will have docents on hand to answer all questions about the history and future of Ely.

LCHS is one of Lake County's largest community organizations and is dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of all things related to the history of Lake County.

In conjunction with the county of Lake, the LCHS is responsible for the operation, management, and development of the Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum.

Membership is $15 per year or $20 for a family, and people can sign up at the event, or go online to www.LakeCountyHistory.org .

For more information, contact Bonnie Skee at 707-262-1432.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Wine and beer lovers from around the county and beyond will make their yearly visit to Library Park in Lakeport to taste a variety of adult beverages on Saturday, June 17.

The annual Lake County Home Wine and Beer Makers Festival will take place from noon to 5 p.m.

It is sponsored as a major fundraiser by the Lake County Symphony Association, with all proceeds going to support the Lake County Symphony and Youth Orchestras.

Admission to the event is $25 for adults, or $20 for advance purchase, which can be made at the Chamber of Commerce, or most of the commercial winery tasting rooms. 

Many of the local commercial wineries also pour samples at the Winefest, although they are not eligible for the Peoples’ Choice ribbons awarded to the amateurs.

Home winemakers may also enter their wines for judging by a panel of experts, who will issue awards in a wide range of categories covering red, white and dessert wines. Entries are charged $7 for each varietal submitted.

There will be many vendors of foods and wine-related products and services on hand, and once again the Lakeport chapter of the Norcal Air-cooled Group Camp ‘n Shine car club will display more than two dozen of their collectible vehicles.

Tasting of adult beverages are restricted to adults who are given identifying wrist bands along with their tickets.

Others, including children, are invited to visit the vendors and the antique car show free of charge. Leashed pets are also welcome.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The “Battles at the Mansion,” a fundraiser event for the Gibson Museum & Cultural Center in Middletown, is shaping up although Friends of Gibson have just been informed that the cavalry and mounted units will be unable to attend due to problems with an equine virus.

There will be a couple of hundred militia-for-the-day in Blue, Gray and colorful Zouave uniforms with muskets, rifles and cannon putting on the traditional “really good show.”

When not chatting with the soldiers and examining their camps and equipment, the crowd at the Middletown Mansion the weekend of June 24 and 25 will have plenty of good entertainment.

My Divas, Lake County’s women’s a Capella group will open the festivities both days. The Divas grew out of Middletown’s long-running holiday season Renaissance Pageant, a favorite since the 1990s. The years have brought changes in the cast. The current seven Lake County women’s wide variety of music styles have gained popularity throughout the county, and recently at Castillo de Amorosa in Calistoga.

David Neft still operates the realty company started by his parents in Middletown 50-some years ago, but his heart is in his music. Neft toured with a rock band in the ‘70s, open for top-name stars at Konocti Harbor Inn and played for local musical productions of Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof and Wizard of Oz. He’s been featured during brunches at the Calistoga Inn for over ten years, and regularly entertains with his traveling keyboard throughout Lake County.

Don Coffin and Andi Skelton are both members of the Uncorked band and regulars at the Fiddlers’ Jam every first Sunday of the month at Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum on Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville, where avid audiences love every minute of it.

Coffin is a member of the Hot Fritattas band, and sings as well as playing guitar and mandolin. He is a recording artist, music teacher and has a bluegrass show on KPFZ radio.

Skelton is concertmaster for the Lake County Symphony, plays with the Ukiah symphony and leads the Konocti Fiddle Club. She also teaches.

Barbara White has been entertaining crowds at Civil War reenactments for more than 20 years with her giggle-producing demonstrations of squeezing into corsets, petticoats and hoop skirts in order to go out in antebellum society. In between, she is a diligent zone archaeologist in the Mendocino Forest for the U. S. Forest Service delving into the history of native peoples.

Voris Brumfield taught theater arts at Yuba College, directed Lake County Repertory Theater, and wrote and directed the Middletown Renaissance Pageant for 10 years. She was a county supervisor and more recently has acted as lay pastor for two Methodist congregations.

At the mansion event, she will assume the persona of her freed slave grandmother to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

A schedule of appearances is available at www.friendsofgibson.com . Further information at Gibson Museum, 21267 Calistoga, in Middletown, 707-809-8009.