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RIVERSIDE, Calif. () — The famed “Festival of Lights” will return to downtown Riverside Saturday, continuing to the start of 2025, featuring millions of lights, holiday displays, carnival rides, caroling, Santa Claus and other entertainment on the pedestrian mall.
Like last year, this year’s fest will begin the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. The switch-on ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday and will be presided over by Mission Inn Hotel & Spa owner Duane Roberts, members of the Riverside City Council and other guests.
Prior to 2023, the ceremonies were traditionally held the day after Thanksgiving, but according to organizers, there’s now an emphasis on getting a head start on the season’s activities.
Last year’s switch-on drew thousands of spectators. Organizers said this year’s event will include a free concert, featuring Matt Mauser & The Tijuana Dogs, as well as Richard Goodall, winner of the 2024 “America’s Got Talent” contest.
This will be the fest’s 32nd anniversary.
2024 holiday events in Southern California
Roberts, who inaugurated the tradition in 1992, said in 2023 that the festival consistently draws up to 500,000 visitors over a one-month span, “all thrilled to watch the display come to life through the Holidays.”
Switch-on events were rescinded in November 2020 and November 2021. The 2020 event was prohibited because of the COVID lockdowns, and the city council decided to forgo the 2021 switch-on as a precautionary measure. The ceremony got back on track in 2022.
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 and wooden soldiers traditionally line the way outside and into the hotel, where visitors also encounter a mistletoe measuring 12-by-8 feet.
Ice skating is slated to be available on the Main Street pedestrian mall, and at the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Lime Street, a Ferris wheel will be in operation. Carolers sometimes make appearances around the hotel.
There will be live musical entertainment weekly, photos with Santa Claus, as well as artisan booths and food vendors up and down the mall. The city festoons light standards and other municipal property with displays and lights.
City spokesman Phil Pitchford told City News Service roughly $1.5 million in municipal funds were allocated for this year’s fest, compared to about $1 million in 2023.
Although festivities will stop on Dec. 31, the lights are slated to stay on through the first week of January.
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