Media release
15 October 2013

4 days to go - Auckland Diwali Festival lights up this weekend

Step into the light this weekend as Aotea Square and part of Queen Street are transformed into an Indian Mela (bazaar) with more than 50 food and craft stalls for the Auckland Diwali Festival.

Diwali – the festival of lights – is an important and ancient Indian festival signifying the triumph of light over darkness and the renewal of life.

Visitors to this weekend’s Auckland Diwali Festival will be able to experience two days of celebrations with a fantastic array of Indian music, dance, fashion, food and fireworks plus workshops and live performances.

The festival runs from midday to 9pm this Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October and is organised by Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED) in partnership with Asia New Zealand Foundation.

ATEED General Manager Destination and Marketing, Rachael Carroll, says we’re very excited to have local and internationally acclaimed artists of both traditional and contemporary Indian culture at this year’s event.

“As well as festival favourites such as the Radio Tarana Bollywood Dance Competition we also have YouTube sensation ‘Superwoman’, aka Lilly Singh coming from Canada to share her comic growing pains of what it’s like to be a young Indian woman in the 21st Century,” she says. “Also urban artist Hanif Kureshi, who has been brought over from India by Asia New Zealand Foundation and will be creating a live masterpiece of contemporary street art.”

Lotto New Zealand who will do a live cross from the celebrations to the lotto draw on TV2 on Saturday night and the festivities end with a spectacular Diwali Finale Fireworks display presented by Barfoot & Thompson on Sunday evening.

Check out aucklandnz.com/diwali for more details and the full festival programme.

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