Andrea McKenna • July 16, 2026
Borrego Academy of Music and Art Launches New Rock Band Class for Young Musicians
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Weekly class invites musicians and singers ages 10 to 18 to explore rock-and-roll music from the 1960s through today.
Young musicians in Borrego Springs will have a new opportunity to rehearse and perform together when the Borrego Academy of Music and Art begins its new Borrego Rock Band class on Wednesday, Aug. 5.
The ongoing weekly class will meet Wednesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. at the academy, located at 590 Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 101, Borrego Springs.
The class is open to young people ages 10 through 18 who sing or play an instrument and want to explore rock-and-roll music from the 1960s through today. Participants must already have some proficiency with their instrument or vocals.
Students will have the opportunity to practice playing as a group, develop their timing and listening skills, and gain experience working with other young musicians.
The Borrego Academy of Music and Art offers free classes for Borrego Springs students in areas including guitar, keyboards, singing, drums, performing arts and recording technology. Its current Wednesday schedule also includes acting, advanced guitar and drums.
The academy is funded and operated by the Borrego Springs Music Festival, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting local music and performing arts education. The organization began offering free weekly music and art classes from its Palm Canyon Drive location in 2024.
Through its classes and performance opportunities, BAMA gives local students a place to learn instruments, explore recording technology and build confidence through the arts.
For more information, contact BAMA instructor and coordinator Kelley Jorgensen at (760) 550-1559.
Learn More About Borrego Springs
Adults looking for a fun way to stay active are invited to join Baila Borrego , a free weekly Latin dance workout at the Borrego Springs Community Resource Center . The 30-minute class is held every Thursday from 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the Community Resource Center, 587 Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 125 , in Borrego Springs. Led by former Zumba instructor Rossy Sanchez , the class combines Latin-inspired dance movements with a light workout designed to get participants moving while enjoying music in a welcoming, social environment. No registration is required, making it easy for residents to drop in and participate. Participants are encouraged to wear shoes that glide comfortably on the floor for dancing. The class is open to adults only , and child care is provided during the session, helping make the program accessible for parents and caregivers. Baila Borrego is one of several free wellness and community programs offered through the Borrego Springs Community Resource Center , which provides educational, health and family support services for local residents. For more information, contact Martha Deichler at 619-948-5900 . What: Baila Borrego – Free Latin Dance Workout When: Thursdays, 11:00–11:30 a.m. Where: Borrego Springs Community Resource Center, 587 Palm Canyon Dr., Suite 125, Borrego Springs Cost: Free Registration: Not required
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Leo Carrillo’s A Salute to Borrego Valley A Salute to Borrego Valley is a small 1960 booklet written by actor Leo Carrillo, best known as Pancho on The Cisco Kid. Carrillo was a longtime supporter of Borrego Springs, an honorary mayor and a familiar presence at local events. He also served as master of ceremonies at the 1949 dedication of the Borrego Springs Airport. The booklet notes that Carrillo wrote the verse years earlier while sharing a $1-a-day room with Will Rogers at the Summerset Hotel in New York City. In the poem, Carrillo contrasts crowded city life with the peace of Borrego Valley, celebrating its sagebrush, desert sand, open skies, mountains and wildlife.
Local barber and cosmetologist Maribel Tellez is donating her time to honor those who have served. As a way to give back to the community that has supported her, Maribel Tellez of Maribel's Chair will be offering free haircuts for veterans on Sunday, July 26, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at American Legion Post 853 , 4515 Borrego Springs Rd., Borrego Springs, CA 92004. "I've been fortunate to receive so much encouragement from this community as I've built my business," said Maribel. "Offering free haircuts is my way of saying thank you to our veterans for their service. I hope you'll stop by and let me give back in a small way." Haircuts are free for all veterans . While there is no charge, donations are welcome and will help support future community outreach efforts. Maribel is a licensed barber and cosmetologist and recently opened Maribel's Chair inside Alicia's Desert Spa . A recipient of the Soroptimist Live Your Dream Award , she has built her business while balancing family, work, and a commitment to serving the Borrego Springs community. She is also an active member of OLAX – Organización Latinos , volunteering her time to support local events and families. The event is made possible through the partnership of American Legion Post 853 , which continues to expand its community outreach by hosting programs and services that support both local veterans and Borrego Springs businesses. Event Details Free Haircuts for Veterans Sunday, July 26 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. American Legion Post 853 590 Palm Canyon Drive Borrego Springs, CA Cost: Free for veterans. Donations are appreciated but never required. Maribel looks forward to welcoming local veterans for an afternoon of appreciation, conversation, and community.
From poolside lunches to overnight escapes, La Casa Del Zorro is rolling out special offers for locals and visitors.
By Dennis Mammana Week of July 19-25, 2026 We can spend our time under the stars trying to find constellation figures from mythological times, but we'll always have limited success. If we really want to see pictures among the stars, I'm afraid we need to create our own. You may remember from previous articles that constellations are simply areas of the sky, and do not resemble their namesakes. Corvus looks nothing like a crow. Trying to find a bear in Ursa Major? Fuhgetaboutit! And Scorpius, the scorpion ... well, OK, there will always be one exception. No, if you want to see pictures among the stars, you must invent your own. And that's where asterisms come in. An asterism is a group of stars that we connect in our imaginations to look like something. Some of the easiest of these to create are geometrical figures. If you ever took a geometry class, you may recall that a point is the simplest of these — a figure with no length, width or depth. In the sky, every star forms a point; connect any three of these, and you'll create a triangle. One in particular, though, is different. It's larger and brighter, and we can find it midway up in our eastern sky after dark. It's called the Summer Triangle. It's not a constellation but rather an asterism made of three stars from three separate constellations, but that doesn't mean that early storytellers overlooked this prominent star grouping. For example, an ancient Chinese love tale tells that the star Deneb represents a magpie bridge over the Milky Way, which allows the separated lovers Altair and Vega to be reunited on only one summer night each year. The brightest of the stellar trio — and highest in the sky this week — is Vega, the most prominent star in the constellation of Lyra, the harp. It lies 150 trillion miles from us (about 25 lightyears); in other words, the light arriving tonight from Vega began its journey toward our eyes in 2001. The southeasternmost of the three stars is Altair, the brightest in the constellation of Aquila, the eagle. Its name comes from the Arabic Al Nasr al Tair, meaning in English "the flying eagle." Altair lies about 96 trillion miles (17 lightyears) from us. Not only is Altair one of the nearest stars, it's also one of the most rapidly spinning, completing one rotation in just 6.5 hours! Finally, farthest to the northeast lies Deneb, marking the tail of the great swan Cygnus, more easily recognized as the Northern Cross. It's not certain, but we think that Deneb could lie as far away as 2,600 lightyears from Earth. If it's truly that distant, this star could be one of the most brilliant in our entire galaxy, with a luminosity equivalent to 200,000 suns, and would generate more light in one day than our sun has produced since the days of Marco Polo at the end of the 13th century! With the overwhelmingly bright moonlight this week and next, the brightest stars are about all we'll be able to see, but you can still head outdoors to check out the brightest of the summer — the Summer Triangle. Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com . Learn More About Borrego Springs
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From the Borrego Sun archives Gale Gordon was best known for his longtime work with Lucille Ball on The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy. He also appeared in I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks and Dennis the Menace. Gordon later made Borrego Springs his home, living on a Tub Canyon ranch and serving as honorary mayor. This 1969 article tells how a search for land purchased by his mother led him to the desert. ------- Originally published in the Borrego Sun on June 21, 1969. HE FOUND PEACE Lost Acreage Brought Gale Gordon To Desert It’s not difficult to find a reason for moving to Borrego Springs. But for actor Gale Gordon it was even less difficult. He came to Borrego 40 years ago to find 10 lost acres his mother, English actress Gloria Gordon, had purchased for speculation, but no one knew where they were. Gale, today the honorary mayor of Borrego Springs, couldn’t find them, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, and in subsequent trips he fell in love with the desert. “When I bought Tub Canyon,” he told the Times writer, Cecil Smith, “I brought an expert surveyor down to check my property lines, and while he was here I sent him to look for Mother’s land. He couldn’t find it. “Just a few years ago, a man wrote me asking me if he could have an easement for a road over Mother’s 10 acres to his property. I told him I’d give him the easement if he’d show it to me. Now, at last, I know where it is.” In the Times article, Smith wrote: “Some people are frightened by the desert. The solitude disturbs them. Across the mountains at Palm Springs there is glitter and clamor and neon dazzle where tourists and movie stars gambol. “Though show folk own great tracts of Borrego (among them Bing Crosby, Jascha Heifetz, Chuck Connors, Eddie Albert and Margo), there is here quiet, muted peace.” Gale obviously agrees, in his words: “When I get in my car to come here I can feel the tensions slacken, the muscles relax. By the time I’m here, I’m a different man and Hollywood seems light-years away. The desert is like the sea, an ever-changing thing that never changes. I guess I come here to find my soul."
