What can people expect from the ever so popular Mission Inn Festival of lights this year? Well the tradition will continue but will be much different than in years past. Here is what to expect.
What will stay the same?
- The holiday display will debut Friday, Nov. 27 — the day after Thanksgiving — as in past years, and run through Jan. 6.
- The event still will feature colorful holiday lights.
- The city spent $60,000 on lights and decorations (this year).
What will change?
- There will be no dazzling, crowd-pleasing ceremony to switch on the 5.5 million lights.
- No fireworks.
- No display of what’s billed as the world’s largest humanmade mistletoe.
- No romantic horse-drawn carriage rides.
- No outdoor vendors selling hot chocolate on the downtown Riverside mall.
- This years event has a new name “Christmas Lights at the Inn”
- The number of lights will be a third to a half as many as shined last year.
- The display of about 400 characters around the hotel is being reduced substantially.
- Those who stay at the Inn will notice a giant gingerbread house in the hotel lobby, a news release stated. The house — 12 feet tall, 5 feet wide and 9 feet long — was built with 800 gingerbread bricks and its roof was made with 300 gingerbread tiles. The house is topped by more than 100 pounds of icing.
- The Mission Inn wont be decorating its Campanario.
- No huge humanmade mistletoe.
- Only guests with hotel reservations or restaurant reservations will be allowed inside.
- The lights will be switched on in the afternoon and not at dark to discourage people from gathering.
Facts about years past:
- Normally 400 characters are placed around the hotel.
- The event ends on January 6th because that is the Birthdate of Kelly Roberts’ birthday.
- Kelly Roberts and husband, Duane, own the Mission Inn, and introduced Riverside’s signature event in 1992.
- Normally the event boasts a multimillion lights.
- In past years, up to 75,000 people turned out for the opening-night switch-on festivities.
- An estimated 700,000 traveled to Riverside to view the display throughout the festival’s roughly six-week run.
Why are they changing?
It’s all designed to keep the number of visitors down to a safe, manageable level at this time. The goal is to reduce the number of people coming to enjoy the holiday lights display which is the opposite attitude they are used to taking. Instead of canceling the event altogether the city and hotel hope these changes will keep numbers down and still give people the ability to drive by and look. People are welcome to drive to downtown Riverside and walk around, but they are asked to wear face coverings and stay at least 6 feet away from other visitors, in keeping with pandemic guidelines. The city has no plans to set up barriers to ensure visitors follow the rules. They will monitor the situation and adjust if they need to.