This Friday marks the debut of an expanded Festival of Lights in downtown Riverside. Along with the usual carolers, carriage rides, one-of-a-kind shopping/dining and millions of holiday lights, this year’s FOL has grown to include a compact ice rink. Skating at the rink, located on the Main Street Pedestrian Mall between Mission Inn and University…
Saturday, November 18, 2006 – The weekend heading into Thanksgiving finds downtown Riverside in a state of transformation as finishing touches are being made to holiday decorations ahead of the annual Festival of Lights, which officially begins the Friday after turkey day. This year, a new addition to an expanded FOL had workers assembling a…
Now that the Orange Blossom Festival is officially kaput, officials in Riverside are eyeing an enlarged Festival of Lights as a quasi-replacement for the annual citrus celebration. Already a great success in its own right, the annual FOL draws tens of thousands of visitors from throughout Southern California during the winter holidays. The centerpiece of…
This weekend marks the last time you’ll be able to see all (or nearly all) of the large “art” oranges in downtown Riverside as the very successful “The Giant Orange Artventure” is coming to an end. Last June, after many months of artistic preparation, 32 fiberglass oranges were “planted” in various locations throughout downtown. Each…
It’s that time of year again when downtown Riverside’s historic Mission Inn is aglow with millions of holiday lights and hundreds of animated figures. Each year, the crowds get a little bit bigger and the lights a little bit brighter as visitors stroll the downtown pedestrian mall, the tiny shops and boutiques, and streets surrounding…
The old debate — new vs. old, dynamic vs. stagnant, growth vs. preservation, etc., etc. Such is always a tricky and dicey situation for any town or city. And, of course, everything is indeed subjective and relative. In other words, what exactly makes a structure “old,” “historic,” and/or “culturally significant”? In Riverside’s case, the city…
A bit late on posting this, but over 20,000 turned out last Friday to the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside for the 11th annual ‘Festival of Lights’ lighting ceremony. The Inland area offered a bright welcome to the holiday season Friday evening as the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside shot off fireworks from its roof, then was lit…
