Arts & Entertainment
Festival of Lights: 2023 Dates Announced For Downtown Riverside
The switch-on ceremony for this year's fest is on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 18. Normally, it's the Friday after Thanksgiving.
RIVERSIDE, CA — The famed "Festival of Lights" in downtown Riverside will start early this year, providing visitors an opportunity to enjoy it longer and merchants additional time to generate business throughout the Christmas Season, officials announced Thursday.
"The Festival of Lights is a Riverside tradition, and I look forward to getting started a few days earlier, which should also benefit our downtown merchants," Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. "This will be a great opportunity for Riversiders to bring their families downtown after kids get out of school for the Thanksgiving break."
The switch-on ceremony for this year's fest is on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 18. Normally, it's the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The ceremonies typically draw up to 75,000 people outside the Mission Inn, where streets are closed and a fireworks extravaganza takes place.
This will be the fest's 31st anniversary. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa owner Duane Roberts began the Festival of Lights in 1992.
Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Switch-on events were rescinded in November 2020 and November 2021. The 2020 event was prohibited by state regulations on public gatherings because of COVID, and the City Council decided to forgo the 2021 switch-on as a precautionary measure.
The ceremony got back on track last year.
The nightly fest features the century-old inn bathed in multi-colored hues, with hundreds of animated characters, including elves, toy soldiers, nutcrackers and angels, visible on banisters, balconies and ledges.
Towering Christmas trees traditionally line the way outside and into the hotel, where visitors also encounter a mistletoe measuring 12-by-8 feet.
There will be live musical entertainment, photos with Santa Claus, as well as artisan booths and food vendors up and down the Main Street pedestrian mall.
Last year, the council allocated $650,000 for the six-week event. This year's appropriation could not immediately be confirmed.
Although festivities will stop on Dec. 31, the lights will stay on until Jan. 7.
