From:Michael Harrington
To:Kristie Ramos, CMC
Subject:Non Agenda Public Comment 9/17/2026
Date:Monday, September 14, 2026 9:11:50 PM
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Subject: Written Public Comment – Rancho Mirage Entertainment Heritage and Emerging Artists Members of the Rancho Mirage City Council:
I would like to suggest a future agenda item concerning how Rancho Mirage can connect its extraordinary entertainment history with contemporary artists carrying that spirit forward today.
Rancho Mirage has long been associated with entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore and Desi Arnaz. But in remembering these people as American icons, we can forget something important: they were not always the safe, traditional figures they appear to be in retrospect.
Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. crossed racial, religious and cultural boundaries when those boundaries carried real consequences. Sinatra spoke publicly against racial and religious prejudice as early as 1945 in The House I Live In. Davis faced racial discrimination even as his career grew. Their friendship and their work together challenged conventions of their time.
We take much of this for granted today because we know how the story ended. Once people become cultural institutions, it is easy to forget that some of their choices were controversial when they made them. They were building careers, encountering resistance and making choices when easier choices were available.
They crossed boundaries while those boundaries still mattered.
That history is one reason I suggest the Council consider recognizing Stella Lefty when she comes to the Coachella Valley for Stagecoach 2027.
For Councilmembers unfamiliar with her, Stella Lefty, born Stella Lefkofsky, grew up in the Chicago area. She is the daughter of Eric Lefkofsky, a technology entrepreneur who co-founded Groupon and founded Tempus AI, and Liz Lefkofsky, a philanthropist and co-chair of the Lefkofsky Family Foundation. Stella developed her music career in Los Angeles and entered country music through an unconventional path.
Her background matters not because of her family’s wealth, but because it makes what is happening with her career particularly interesting. She did not grow up in Nashville or in a traditional Southern country-music environment. Yet she has entered that world as herself, and audiences from very different backgrounds are embracing her.
Her recent appearance at the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, particularly struck me. I watched footage of the concert and the students’ reaction. This was more than an artist from Chicago performing at a Southern university. The students enthusiastically embraced her and her music.
At a time when regional and cultural differences are often emphasized, Stella’s career is moving in the opposite direction. She is finding common ground among people from very different backgrounds. She is not an established celebrity lending her name to a cause about bringing people together. She is living it as a young artist building her career. It is happening from the bottom up.
Her Grand Ole Opry debut on September 2, 2026, and her selection for the Stagecoach 2027 lineup are further evidence of that journey.
I am not equating today’s cultural differences with the racial discrimination Sammy Davis Jr. and other Black entertainers confronted during segregation.
The circumstances are very different. The connection is the ability of entertainment to cross boundaries and bring together people whom society may otherwise define by their differences.
We often recognize that quality only afterward. Once history tells us someone mattered, recognition is easy. The harder and more interesting thing is to recognize it while it is happening.
Rancho Mirage should not preserve only the style of its entertainment history. We should preserve its spirit. The entertainers who created that history were not recreating somebody else’s past. They were living in their present, taking chances and sometimes challenging conventions.
Rancho Mirage is already investing in entertainment and cultural programming, including its amphitheater. I believe this could help fill a gap in that effort.
The city does an excellent job honoring its entertainment heritage and presenting established forms of entertainment, but it has less connection to the contemporary artists and music attracting new audiences today. Occasional recognition of artists appearing at Stagecoach and other major Coachella Valley events could help connect Rancho Mirage to that broader entertainment culture without requiring another major program or substantial expenditure.
I therefore suggest a simple City Council recognition or commendation welcoming Stella Lefty to the Coachella Valley for Stagecoach 2027 and recognizing the way her emerging career is bringing audiences together across regional and cultural boundaries. It could be provided through her management or, if scheduling permits, presented by a city representative during Stagecoach week.
History will eventually decide which emerging artists mattered. Rancho Mirage has an opportunity to recognize something worthwhile before history makes it obvious.
Thank you for your consideration.
Background:
Grand Ole Opry – Stella Lefty:
https://www.opry.com/artists/stella-lefty
Stella Lefty – Official Website:
https://www.stella-lefty.com/
Stagecoach – 2027 Lineup:
https://stagecoachfestival.com/lineup/
Library of Congress – The House I Live In:
https://www.loc.gov/item/2024600519/
Library of Congress – Frank Sinatra speaking on racial prejudice, November 1, 1945:
https://www.loc.gov/item/2015650652/
City of Rancho Mirage – Historic Resources Inventory:
https://ranchomirageca.gov/CITY%20STAFF%20USE%20THIS%20FILE/Department%20Files/Planning/Historic%20Preservation%20Commission/Final- Report.pdf
Mike Harrington