Riverside Festival of Lights

November 24, 2018

Hi Blog!

After spending the better part of the day hiking, Dave and I were eager to meet our friend Darla for dinner. Afterwards, we drove into Riverside to take in the annual Festival of Lights. The Festival is celebrating its 26th year. USA Today calls it one of the "Best Public Lights Displays in the Nation." Since it's free, it draws big crowds every year. Having a local with us, we avoided the long lines and high parking fees at the downtown garages. Here we are getting ready to take it all in.

Created by the Mission Inn & Hotel, the Festival of Lights became an annual gift to the community from property owners Duane and Kelly Roberts, who saved the historic hotel from destruction in 1992. The streets surrounding the Inn are closed to motor vehicle traffic. There is a stage for live concert performances and vendors have booths surrounding the Inn selling all sorts of holiday goodies.

The castle-like hotel is illuminated with 5 million holiday lights.

The line to tour the inside of the hotel was pretty long, so we opted to just walk around the outside.

Since the Mission Inn spans an entire city block, some festival goers opted for lighted carriage rides while taking in all the light displays.

If you have enough money to stay at the Inn during the holidays, an Elf will tuck you in at night after your carriage ride!

Highlights of Festival of Lights include 200 animated figures including angels, elves and Dickens carolers. Note the shadows of the characters standing on the balconies.

The Mission Inn has played host to U.S. Presidents and celebrities, and served as the setting in many Hollywood productions, such as 1915’s “The Vampire,” 1938’s “Idiot’s Delight,” and 1997’s “Man in the Iron Mask.”

Toy Soldiers stand guard at the back of the Inn.

As we finished our circle around the Inn, we were just amazed by the volume - not just the volume of lights, but the volume of people making the pilgrimage to see the lights. New York City may have Rockefeller Center, but  SoCal has the Mission Inn.

Tomorrow, yet another adventure awaits us. Stay tuned.