"The palm trees slated for removal were planted in our community nearly 100 years ago, when the area was primarily composed of date farms." That line comes from a September 4, 2026 City of Indian Wells release. It announces that 95 palms along Highway 111 will come out this fall, and they will not be relocated.
The city's 60th birthday is still nine months off. Indian Wells incorporated on July 14, 1967, which happened to be Bastille Day, as California's 400th city and the 16th in Riverside County. On September 2–3, the City Council approved a year-long anniversary program with a $150,000 budget, culminating on July 14, 2027. The program has no published party calendar yet. The anniversary will show up on the streets well before it shows up on an invitation. Over the next few months, residents will see the town's oldest trees replaced and two of its founders' names put on public buildings. Signs marking the oldest neighborhoods will go up on the same street as the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which hosts the WTA Finals in five weeks.
The Oldest Thing on Highway 111 Is Coming Down First
The city's projects page puts the Highway 111 palm replacement in the October–December 2026 window. Its inventory along the corridor rates 35 palms in "poor" condition and 195 in "fair." The city says it switched from a phased approach to doing the work all at once, both to get quantity pricing and to remove trees it has flagged as potential hazards.
The release names 95 trees. It also says some of them may look healthy from the outside but have reached the end of their expected lifespan. Replacing them before they fail lowers the risk of breakage from high winds, pests and disease.
New date palms will replace them. That makes the anniversary-year change to the city's main road a direct link back to its agricultural start, with the same species going back into the ground that the date farmers planted a century ago. The city ties the work to its Tree City USA designation and to reducing the heat island effect from asphalt and concrete.
Neither the projects page nor the September release mentions lane closures or detours. Indian Wells sends traffic and community-event alerts through Nixle, so that is where any notice about work on your stretch of 111 would come through.
Two Founders' Names Go Onto Public Buildings
The palms tie the anniversary to the land. The other projects in the program tie it to the people who built the city, and they put names on buildings residents already use.
- Richard Oliphant Fire Station No. 55. The city's fire station will be renamed for Richard "Dick" Oliphant, a former mayor and the city's first fire chief. The project runs August 2026 through February 2027, and the city has promised a fall event to mark the renaming.
- Janice Oliphant Community Garden. The garden will be renamed for Jan Oliphant, founder of the Indian Wells Garden Club, and the city is adding plot space. That work runs August 2026 through January 2027, also with a fall commemoration.
- Civic Center signage. Public Works is working with the 60th Anniversary Committee on new signs for the Civic Center, designed to match the city's existing monument signs. They will be unveiled during the anniversary celebrations.
- Eisenhower Memorial expansion. A new stone will honor more service members who live in Indian Wells, along with new walkways and landscaping. The work is scheduled for August–October 2026.
The city has said the garden and fire station ceremonies will happen "in the fall" but has not announced dates or venues for either one. A separate date is already set. The city's Veterans Day Ceremony is on November 11, 2026, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Indian Wells City Hall, with light refreshments and no RSVP required. The listing gives City Hall as the venue, not the memorial.
The Council also approved the Community Activities Committee's FY 2026–27 event calendar with a $175,000 budget. Meeting coverage says some dates were still tentative and that the events will tie into the anniversary programming. The full list of anniversary events has not been published.
Historic Signs Come to Two Neighborhoods
This is the part of the anniversary residents will see from their own front yards. In September 2025, the Indian Wells Preservation Foundation asked the city to partner on a Historic Neighborhood Recognition Program. On April 16, 2026, the Council approved a pilot that adds historic sign toppers in two neighborhoods whose residents had told the foundation they supported the idea. The work is scheduled for September–October 2026, and more neighborhoods can be added if the pilot goes well.
The two pilot neighborhoods:
- Desert Bel Air, the streets around Fairway Park. That covers Fairway Drive between Eldorado Drive and west of Cielito Drive, Vista Dorado, Altamira, Alta Colina Way, Painted Desert between Alta Colina Way and Cielito Drive, Villa Serena, Calle Tranquilidad, and Eldorado Drive between Fairway and Painted Desert.
- Indian Wells Village, made up of Miles Avenue, Elkhorn Trail and Cheyenne Drive near Ford Elementary School.
The foundation's own FY 2026–27 calendar, as described at the September council meeting, includes historic-landmark recognition, a preservation symposium and neighborhood recognition events.
Miles Avenue appears on that list, and it is also the address of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden at 78-200 Miles Avenue. So the street getting historic markers this fall is the same street the women's tennis world will be heading to in November.
The WTA Finals Arrive in November
On July 1, the WTA announced that the 2026 WTA Finals will be played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden from November 8 to 15. The season-ending championship brings together the top eight singles players and doubles teams of the year. Locals know the venue as the home of the BNP Paribas Open in March. The Finals add a second marquee women's event at the same address in the same season.
According to the WTA's ticket guide, round-robin play runs November 8–13 and championship weekend is November 14–15. Single-session tickets start in the $75 to $130 range. Mini-packages start at $200 to $290, a full-event Stadium 2 series package starts at $900, and groups of 10 or more get special pricing. The AXS listing shows opening day at noon on Sunday, November 8, with doors at 10 a.m.
As of September 28, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka had qualified. For Sabalenka, it is a sixth straight trip to the Finals. The WTA's September 18 race snapshot also had Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva, Elina Svitolina, Karolína Muchová and Linda Nosková in the top eight. Those spots were still open as of that date.
For parking and shuttles, the only "Getting here" guidance available right now is written for the BNP Paribas Open, so it may not apply in November. The city's resident benefits pages list a 10% Pro Shop merchandise discount at the Tennis Garden. They do not list a resident ticket offer for the Finals.
Golf Closes Out the First Week of October
The fall started with golf. The Epson Tour Championship runs October 1–4 on the Players Course at Indian Wells Golf Resort and wraps up today. The resort sits at 44-500 Indian Wells Lane. The Players Course reopened in December 2025 after a $13 million renovation. That work moved last year's tournament to the Celebrity Course.
On September 29, the city extended its presenting sponsorship of the event through 2029. The deal includes complimentary local resort rooms for players, livestreamed final rounds and card ceremony, and a new Champions Dinner starting in 2027. That dinner will debut during the anniversary year. The city calendar lists a driving range overseed at the resort from October 8 to October 26.
Down the road on Indian Wells Lane, Seven Olive Modern Gastropub is open at Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa, 44400 Indian Wells Lane, serving brick-oven pizza and pub classics.
Fall 2026 Dates in One Place
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| October 1–4 | Epson Tour Championship | Indian Wells Golf Resort, Players Course |
| October 8–26 | Driving range overseed | Indian Wells Golf Resort |
| September–October | Historic sign toppers installed | Desert Bel Air and Indian Wells Village |
| August–October | Eisenhower Memorial expansion | Eisenhower Memorial |
| October–December | Highway 111 palm replacement | Highway 111 corridor |
| November 8–13 | WTA Finals round robin | Indian Wells Tennis Garden |
| November 11, 10–11 a.m. | Veterans Day Ceremony | Indian Wells City Hall |
| November 14–15 | WTA Finals championship weekend | Indian Wells Tennis Garden |
| Fall, date to be announced | Garden and fire station dedications | Community garden and Fire Station No. 55 |
| July 14, 2027 | 60th anniversary | Citywide |
If you live in Desert Bel Air or Indian Wells Village, or you're thinking about what the anniversary year could mean for a home on one of those streets, Desert Cities Home is glad to talk it through. Request a Free Home Valuation & Custom Marketing Plan, and we'll show you how we'd present your home's history and its location in Indian Wells to buyers.
