Attending the Mission Inn Festival of Lights? Here’s what you need to know

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa Festival of Lights will take over downtown Riverside for the final weeks of 2026, beginning the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

The event features 10 million lights on the exterior of the historic resort, plus food vendors and merchants on the adjoining pedestrian mall, along with ice skating and carnival rides on side streets. The city of Riverside provides financial and logistical support for the event.

This year, a new ticketed attraction, Holiday Magic at Candy Lane, will open Nov. 27 at nearby Albert S. White Park on Market Street, about a quarter of a mile from the resort. Attractions will include a holiday light maze and a snowball arena, according to the city. General admission will be $15-$20, with discounts for Riverside residents.

The Festival of Lights attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors during its six-week run and was selected as Newsweek’s Readers’ Choice for Best Holiday Light Show last year. Newsweek editors declared it “fills downtown with holiday wonder.”

The resort will be illuminated 5-11 p.m. nightly through Jan. 3, with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

The switch-on ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. Nov. 21 with fireworks, a visit from Santa Claus and live music by singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw. The stage will be at Orange Street and Mission Inn Avenue, which is where the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum is located. It’s better known as the Cheech.

The 238-room Mission Inn is at 3649 Mission Inn Ave., a major downtown artery with access to the 91 Freeway but not made for huge crowds. It has two lanes going in either direction but narrows to one lane each way in front of the hotel.

Traffic – affecting the freeway as well as city streets – undergoes extensive rerouting during the festival, with closures usually happening around 3 p.m. daily. Attendees should arrive 45 minutes to an hour in advance, according to the resort.

Mission Inn Avenue will be closed in front of the resort during the switch-on ceremony and the festival’s first weekend. After that, the need for closures will be reevaluated, according to city representatives.

Sixth and Ninth streets near the resort will be closed for the duration of the event.

Last year, the Riverside Transit Agency provided free shuttle service from the Riverside-Downtown Metrolink Station next to the freeway to the Mission Inn on Fridays and Saturdays, with shuttles running every 15 minutes.

Parking at city structures cost roughly $20 last year, with prepaid discounts available.

Details for this year’s parking and transit were not available at press time.

The Mission Inn is offering festival stay packages for overnight guests. Booking options include holiday-decorated suites, an in-room Christmas tree, a hot chocolate turndown and a commemorative mug, according to the resort’s website. Guests can purchase $100 worth of resort credit for $75 to be spent on the property, including its restaurants and bars.

A check of the Festival of Lights package on the Mission Inn website showed rooms for the night of Nov. 21 starting at $599 for a deluxe king bed. After that, rates start at $384 and go up to $837 on Saturdays in December.

The Mission Inn Steakhouse will be serving Breakfast with Santa 8-11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Prices are $45 for adults, $20 for children 3-11, and prepayment is required.

This is the 34th annual Festival of Lights, begun in 1992 by longtime owners Duane and Kelly Roberts. After Duane Roberts’ death late last year, the resort was sold to the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation in Highland. No major changes to the Festival of Lights have been announced.

Information: riversideca.gov, missioninn.com/festival-of-lights