Pageant or play, it’s still ‘Ramona’

Although a certain outdoor theatrical event in Hemet is marking its 80th birthday this year, it’s still undergoing a bit of an identity crisis.

Is “Ramona” an “outdoor play” or a “pageant”?

It’s certainly an outdoor play, in which performers act out a story about star-crossed lovers and the abuse of California’s Indians, based on Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 novel. But some of the components of the extravaganza -- a cast of more than 400, audiences that number as many as 5,400, real horses, real hills -- led to the moniker “Ramona Pageant.”

The original title was simply “Ramona.” In other references, however, it was variously described as an “outdoor play,” a “pageant” and an “outdoor pageant play,” according to “Ramona” historian Phil Brigandi.

In 1984, the production’s logo became “Ramona Pageant,” and 11 years later those words began appearing on the program as the title, partly at Brigandi’s urging.

When marketing manager Janine Mundwiler arrived three years ago, however, she found that some people thought the “Ramona Pageant” was a beauty contest. She campaigned for a change, and that change takes effect with this year’s event, which opens April 26. The new logo says “Ramona” in big type and “Outdoor Play” in smaller type.

Apparently, Mundwiler’s campaign was only partly successful -- the Web site is still www.ramonapageant.com, and the sponsoring nonprofit organization is still called the Ramona Pageant Assn.

The new logo also includes “Riverside County Presents” above the title, but “Ramona” has not become a governmental pageant ... er, outdoor play. The words reflect a “sponsorship” deal, in which the county provided $410,000 in capital improvements to the Ramona Bowl venue.

-- Don Shirley