Ice skating makes comeback for this year’s Riverside lights festival

Ice skating will be among the menu of options for entertainment during the famed “Festival of Lights” in downtown Riverside, according to officials, returning for visitors to enjoy for the first time in four years.

The city announced Thursday that an ice skating rink will be established at the outset of the celebration on Nov. 18, accessible on the west side of the Cheech Marin Center, in the area of Orange Street and Mission Inn Boulevard.

“Skaters will glide across the ice in the shadow of the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa … with millions of holiday lights twinkling in the background,” Riverside spokesman Phil Pitchford said.

A rink was last set up for the fest in 2019.

The event will be extended this year, with the switch-on ceremony slated for the evening of Nov. 18. Normally, it is the Friday after Thanksgiving.

The switch-on 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.

Switch-on events were dropped 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 multicolored 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.

The council allocated $1 million for this year’s fest. Last year, it was $650,000 for the six-week event.

Although festivities will stop on Dec. 31, the lights will stay on until Jan. 7 this season.

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