Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians

The annual Soboba Tribal Christmas Party hosted by the Parks and Recreation Department took on a different look this year, but the laughter and joy were present as always. Families who reserved a spot for the drive-through event were treated to live holiday music from DJ Mike Nevarez as they were guided past trunks trimmed with festive decorations and tasty giveaways.

Faced with continuing limitations on community events due to COVID-19 precautions, members of the Soboba Youth Council have had to get creative. The new school year began with classes still meeting online, so the young people decided to set up an outdoor Back-to-School Scavenger Hunt on Aug. 28.

The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians fought long and hard to open a casino on Tribal land a quarter of a century ago. Much has changed since the early days, most notably the construction and opening of the current Soboba Casino Resort last year. The month of August is filled with Silver Anniversary promotions to commemorate the celebration.

With the help of grant funds from the Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC), the Soboba Public Works Department was able to implement a program to take care of much-needed cleanup and repair from federally declared disasters at the Soboba Indian Reservation.

In an effort to keep the wide-open spaces of the Soboba Indian Reservation as pristine as possible, the Soboba Tribal Environmental Department implemented an annual Community Cleanup Day more than 10 years ago. This year’s event produced the best results so far as residents have used the state’s sheltering-in-place guidelines as an opportunity to clean out garages, sheds and yards.