A bumper sticker is just one way the city of Temecula hoped to promote Old Town Temecula as a western music destination in 1995. Valley News/Courtesy photo
Rebecca Marshall FarnbachSpecial to Valley NewsIn the November 1995 election in Temecula, residents of the 6-year-old community voted in favor of making Old Town Temecula into a western music destination that some dubbed “the Branson of the West,” referring to a small town in Missouri, a hub where well-known musicians have performance theaters. In a hotly contested vote, the proposal for the music venue development, presented as Proposition B, won by a 46-vote margin of the 8,146 votes cast.While some people thought the proposal would encourage business and tourism, other voters voiced concerns about increased traffic. There were others who stood against growth of enterprises or in population in Temecula at the time.Even after Proposition B won by a narrow margin, the T
