West Midlands park to host one of UK's biggest Diwali celebrations

Sandwell's Victoria Park will host a fireworks display, funfair and live performances

Published 20th Oct 2024

A West Midlands Park will become home to one of the UK's biggest celebrations of Diwali today.

The free event in Sandwell's Victoria Park will host dance performances, food stalls, and a firework display.

Danny Singh is the event's founder - he told us more about the religious festival.

"Diwali is a major celebration back in India, and for the communities here. Particularly the Sikh and Hindu communities, celebrating light over darkness."

He explained why people should attend.

"It's going to be a day where families come together from different cultures. They can experience the celebrations. They can meet old friends, make new friends.

"For other communities it's a chance to learn about this major celebration and get to know what the celebration means to the South Asian community.

"It doesn't matter what background you're from, what religion you're from - it's all about embracing the festivities," he said.

He told us what people can expect from the festivities.

"We've got a fireworks display, we've got a light show, we've got fire performers.

"It's going to be really colourful; lots of lights, lots of music. We've got performances from local schools, local universities, and professional dance groups.

"The dancing will be based around traditional Bhangra, Bollywood, heritage dance, Kathak dance."

The event runs between 1 and 8pm.

Diwali begins officially on 31 October and runs for two days.

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