The year is 1960, it was a good year. The economy was moving, the world was at peace and people still spoke to each other in public places. It was a good thing people were talking or Inland Iris Society may have never been created. Two women had decided to do their shopping in Riverside on this day in 1960. They were discussing the news of the times, varieties of goods and their prices, (much lowe
r than today’s prices) but they still complained as all good shoppers do. Their discussion eventually led to gardening and flowers and finally to iris. Nancy Shank of Corona had several hundred irises at the time and she was a member of the Southern California Iris Society, a fair distance to drive even before all the traffic (at that time was the only active local Iris Society). The lady she was having this conversation with was Alice White of Hemet. Alice was not a true iris fanatic at the time, she only had a few iris in her garden, but she did like to attend get-togethers and she was a good organizer. The discussion finally led to “why don’t we start a society of our own?” and the Inland Iris Society was born. Alice ran an advertisement in the local newspaper announcing the new Inland Empire Iris Society and people came. The first meetings of the IIS were held at the homes of members, that can be done when the membership is small, but they soon had to move to larger accommodations. Places like the Victoria Savings and Loan & Glendale Savings & Loan, both in Riverside, the Park building in Fontana, the San Bernardino Museum and the Sizzler in Pedley. Today the Janet Goeske Center in Riverside is the main meeting location. IIS has been supported through the years by outstanding hybridizers who have brought pride to our society. These include: Bernard Hamner, Herb Holk, Doris Lutz, Opal Ollis, Bob Vogel, Katherine Gannon, Pete De Santis, Harry Tate through Mark Rogers and Richard Richards. The annual rhizome auction and the spring and fall rhizome sales provide capital to keep our society in the black. The plant table is also provided at our meetings to make a few extra dollars for our club. In 1998 the membership changed the name from Inland Iris Society to Inland Region Iris Society to give the club the acronym IRIS. This year's officers and board members have many interesting and fun ideas for the club and we hope you will be able to join us for all of them.
