Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn 2026 — Riverside
The first time you see it, you stop walking. Ten million lights wrapped around a century-old hotel in downtown Riverside, and the building itself looks like it is breathing — towers and turrets and Spanish arches outlined in white and gold against a cold November sky. The scale is absurd and the beauty is sincere and you stand there with strangers who are all doing the same thing you are doing, which is nothing at all except looking up.
The Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn has run every holiday season since 1992. The Grand Switch-On Ceremony on November 22 draws tens of thousands to watch the building come alive for the first time — a concert, a dance performance, and then the moment when every bulb fires at once and the crowd makes a sound that is not quite a cheer and not quite a gasp. After opening night, the lights stay on through January 6, and the surrounding blocks of downtown Riverside fill with food vendors, carolers, horse-drawn carriages, and a walk-through experience that takes longer than you planned because you keep stopping.
Switch-On Ceremony at 5 PM on November 22. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, 3649 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA 92501.
The first time you see it, you stop walking. Ten million lights wrapped around a century-old hotel in downtown Riverside, and the building itself looks like it is breathing — towers and turrets and Spanish arches outlined in white and gold against a cold November sky. The scale is absurd and the beauty is sincere and you stand there with strangers who are all doing the same thing you are doing, which is nothing at all except looking up.
The Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn has run every holiday season since 1992. The Grand Switch-On Ceremony on November 22 draws tens of thousands to watch the building come alive for the first time — a concert, a dance performance, and then the moment when every bulb fires at once and the crowd makes a sound that is not quite a cheer and not quite a gasp. After opening night, the lights stay on through January 6, and the surrounding blocks of downtown Riverside fill with food vendors, carolers, horse-drawn carriages, and a walk-through experience that takes longer than you planned because you keep stopping.
Switch-On Ceremony at 5 PM on November 22. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, 3649 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA 92501.
The first time you see it, you stop walking. Ten million lights wrapped around a century-old hotel in downtown Riverside, and the building itself looks like it is breathing — towers and turrets and Spanish arches outlined in white and gold against a cold November sky. The scale is absurd and the beauty is sincere and you stand there with strangers who are all doing the same thing you are doing, which is nothing at all except looking up.
The Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn has run every holiday season since 1992. The Grand Switch-On Ceremony on November 22 draws tens of thousands to watch the building come alive for the first time — a concert, a dance performance, and then the moment when every bulb fires at once and the crowd makes a sound that is not quite a cheer and not quite a gasp. After opening night, the lights stay on through January 6, and the surrounding blocks of downtown Riverside fill with food vendors, carolers, horse-drawn carriages, and a walk-through experience that takes longer than you planned because you keep stopping.
Switch-On Ceremony at 5 PM on November 22. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, 3649 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA 92501.
235 people have found this event.
Your audience is already here. See exactly who found you.
Falkor
