33rd annual Festival of Lights in Riverside
This year, 2025, marks the 33rd year for the annual Festival of Lights surrounding the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside. It also marks the first Festival following the death of Mission Inn owner, Duane R Roberts, who passed away on November 1.
The Festival, which began as a modest hotel-only event in 1993 with only several thousand lights, has since blossomed into a City-sponsored event with a reported 10 million lights. It now encompasses several blocks downtown, mostly along the Main Street Pedestrian Mall, with the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa as the centerpiece.
Helping to round out the festivities are several holiday-related vendors and performances, including a small ice skating rink and carnival area. Most of the shops/boutiques, coffee cafes, restaurants, and bars in the event area remain open for extended hours.
This year’s Festival began with the traditional opening ceremony and fireworks on November 22 and runs nightly, 5 p.m. – 11 p.m., through January 6, 2026 (excepting Christmas). Due to large crowds, a couple of streets near the Mission Inn are closed to vehicles. Parking is available in a few City-owned garages (with nominal rates), surface lots, and nearby streets (with lots and streets free after 7 p.m. on weekdays and free all day on weekends/holidays).
The event, which has won several national awards over the years, owes its existence to Roberts, a Riverside businessman and investor who purchased the Mission Inn — at a highly discounted rate — from Chemical Bank of New York in December 1992.
Chemical found itself holding title to the Inn following a nearly $40 million renovation by Carley Capital Group of Madison, Wisconsin, which had begun what was expected to be a two-year, $28 million restoration and renovation following the full closure of the Inn on June 30, 1985. However, cost overruns and delays caused financial strains for Carley, resulting in Chemical eventually foreclosing on the loan just as the Inn was about to reopen in December 1988 as the Omni Mission Inn.
“This was by far the toughest and most complex rehabilitation project we’ve ever done–and we’ve done 300 across the nation,” said Maureen McAvey, director of development for the Carley Capital Group. “We had every example of structural failure imaginable in this building.”
Los Angeles Times – November 26, 1988
Restoration work abruptly stopped on December 2, 1988, just a few weeks prior to the Inn’s scheduled reopening set for December 22, 1988. The stoppage meant Omni Hotels quickly suspended pre-opening preparations, halted hiring, laid off those it had already hired, and reassigned some Inn management to other Omni properties. So abrupt was the stoppage, that Omni had already spent upwards of $250,000 on pre-opening advertising.
The Inn would remain closed with Chemical spending several million dollars more (thankfully) to finalize the major renovation before eventually finding a buyer in Roberts a few years later. (Overall restoration and renovation of the Inn has been reported to have eventually cost between $45-$50 million.)
Although several parties had apparently expressed interest in the Inn during the months following Carley’s departure — which Chemical had initially hoped to sale for a reported opening bid of $28 million — only two were considered serious potential buyers during this nearly 3-year period: investor John K Desmond of Pennsylvania, and later, Roberts.
“The lost economic opportunity from having the Mission Inn closed is now mounting in the millions of dollars, maybe the tens of millions of dollars,” (Riverside’s Assistant Development Director, Ralph) Megna said. “The (redevelopment) agency has no higher priority at this point than to see that the Mission Inn opens and begins contributing to the local economy.”
Riverside Press-Enterprise – February 6, 1992
Negotiations reportedly in the $16 million range began with Desmond in September 1991, lasting a little over a year before faltering and the emergence of four other potential suitors. One of these included Roberts, whose deal for the Inn was quickly completed in the span of about two months in late 1992.
Escrow for the $15.6 million deal between Chemical Bank and Roberts (with some initial financial assistance by the City) officially closed on December 24, 1992. The hotel partially reopened on December 30, 1992 with about 50 of the 240 rooms ready. Full reopening would come several months later, with official reopening ceremonies taking place May 1-2, 1993.
For his part, reports have stated Roberts had reinvested several million dollars into the Inn over his 30-plus years of ownership, with some being used to establish and grow the annual Festival of Lights. His steadfast stewardship of the Inn during the early years following its rebirth — and which continued during his three-decade ownership — bestowed upon Roberts the honorary title as “Keeper of the Inn” (original owner Frank Miller was referred to as “Master of the Inn”).
Following the passing of Roberts in early November 2025 — just a few days shy of his 89th birthday — speculation began that the Mission Inn might be heading for a sale. The notion was quickly shot down by the Mission Inn and its co-owner (and wife of Duane), Kelly Roberts, who later reaffirmed via family attorney/spokesperson David Bristow that a sale was neither pending nor planned:
“The Mission Inn is not for sale. And there are no plans to sell the Mission Inn,” Bristow said. “She (Kelly) is committed to the stewardship of the inn and the continuance of the Festival of Lights. She is adamant that she will be here next year to flip the switch to turn on the lights.”
Riverside Press-Enterprise – November 25, 2025
When/if the Mission Inn does potentially go up for sale, we trust that Kelly (and any advisors) will truly appreciate the community fabric and importance the Mission Inn has been to Riverside and the Inland region overall during its nearly 125 years of existence. And thus, seeks a buyer (preferably local/Southern California) that will provide the same financial and faithful stewardship as the Roberts have since the Inn’s (and downtown’s) rebirth following Duane’s purchase.
In a 2007 interview, he (Duane) recalled buying the hotel in part because his late mother had loved it.
“She would have never imagined that we would own a treasure like the Mission Inn,” Roberts said at the time.
“I like beautiful old things,” he said. “The Mission Inn is the fabric that binds the community together. It’s a heart welling thing to own. Some (wealthy) people have sports teams, I have my Mission Inn.”
Riverside Press-Enterprise – November 3, 2025
Related
- Mission Inn – Festival of Lights
- City of Riverside – Festival of Lights
- Historic Hotels – Mission Inn
- KTTV-TV-FOX11LA – Riverside’s Mission Inn Festival of Lights returns with spectacular displays (November 24, 2025)
- KTLA-TV – I.E. Insider: The Mission Inn Festival of Lights (November 21, 2025)
- Riverside Press-Enterprise – All you need to know about the 2025 Festival of Lights in Riverside (December 5, 2025) | Mission Inn owner remembered at Festival of Lights in Riverside November 25, 2025 | Mission Inn turns on the lights, kicks off Festival of Lights (November 22, 2025) | Duane Roberts rescued the Mission Inn, Riverside’s showpiece (November 4, 2025) | Duane Roberts, co-owner of the Mission Inn in Riverside, dies at 88 (November 2, 2025) | It’s been 40 years since the Mission Inn closed in Riverside (June 26, 2025) | Take a first look at Riverside’s Rose Parade float celebrating the Festival of Lights (September 20, 2017) | Timeline history of Mission Inn, Festival of Lights (November 13, 2015)
- Orange County Register – Burrito king grows from frozen to fine dining (July 19, 2007)
- Los Angeles Times – Historic Mission Inn Prepares to Open After $40-Million, 3 1/2-Year Renovation (November 26, 1988)
Previous
- RaincrossSquare.com – 21st annual ‘Festival of Lights’ (November 2013)
Gallery: 2025 Festival of Lights
Images from the 33rd annual Festival of Lights in and around the Mission Inn and Main Street Pedestrian Mall in downtown Riverside
Sources: Riverside Press-Enterprise (PE-19850630, PE-19880707, PE-19881203, PE-19881206, PE-19881207, PE-19881208, PE-19881214, PE-19881220, PE-19881223, PE-19910918, PE-19920206, PE-19921007, PE-19921201, PE-19921202, PE-19921209, PE-19921225, PE-19921230, PE-19921231, PE-19930303, PE-19930502, PE-20151113, PE-20250628, PE-20251103, PE-20251105, PE-20251122, PE-20251205); Orange County Register (OCR-20070719); Los Angeles Times (LAT-19881126); “Historic Mission Inn” (Friends of the Mission Inn, 1998); RaincrossSquare.com; NOTE: Published dates for some online versions of newspaper articles cited may not match their archival source date.
