Redlands 125th Anniversary: Carole Beswick, former mayor, brought Bicycle Classic to Redlands

This week's video interview is with Carole Beswick, who sat with me at the Redlands Country Club, of which she recently became the first woman president.

Beswick was also the first woman mayor of Redlands, and the first woman president of a service club in this town.

She tells the story of how she became mayor, which began with her having "no desire to run for public office."

"It was not something I'd ever want to do, nor did I want to do it at the time."

She was persuaded to run by an amazing action of support, and she won a City Council seat the first time she ran.

During her term, she opened a downtown business, Paper Partners.

And while she was mayor, she founded the Redlands Bicycle

Classic. She tells the story of a trio of events that planted the idea, which when it came to fruition made Redlands famous worldwide.

"I didn't know that you weren't supposed to call yourself a classic until you were one," she said. "Now we are one."

The first one, Memorial Day weekend, 1985, attracted a big crowd, and included fireworks and a street dance.

"When we realized we could attract the best of the best" of the cycling community, the Classic expanded to include nearby towns. Now it is the longest continuous stage race in the country.

She says the pride and community of Redlands make it possible. Other towns ask her how they can start something like that in their community.

"Well, I say, `The first thing you need is 350 volunteers,"' she said. And that's the end of that.

Beswick was mayor during the city's centennial celebration, and she says it was one event after another.

"It's how Redlands does things. We tend to really get behind ourselves and celebrate," she said. "And we think we're pretty special."

She also talks about the experience of being in a production at the Redlands Bowl. During the centennial she starred in "Hello, Dolly!"

Also during her mayoral tenure, State Street was redone.

"We were on the verge of losing downtown. It was going to be gone," she said.

It wasn't entirely smooth. The city had to use eminent domain to move some locally owned businesses, which upset some. now.

State Street was dug up 14 feet down, and workers were told they could only work at night to lessen the impact on businesses.

When the project started in the mid '80s, there was a 40 percent vacancy rate.

Some of the building owners didn't even know they had property in Redlands.

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Reach Toni via email, call her at 909-793-3221, or find her on Twitter @ToniMomberger.

Source: http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/news/ci_22606470/redlands-125th-anniversary-carole-beswick-former-mayor-brought?source=rss_viewed

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