Home

Diwali Festival of Lights attracts a bumper turnout

Headshot of Jackson Barrett
Jackson BarrettSouth Western Times
South West Indian Group president Parthasarathy Ramesh, John Castrilli, Bunbury MLA Don Punch and Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan on stage at Saturday’s Diwali festival.
Camera IconSouth West Indian Group president Parthasarathy Ramesh, John Castrilli, Bunbury MLA Don Punch and Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan on stage at Saturday’s Diwali festival.

After much anticipation, the colour and fun of the Diwali Festival of Lights hit Bunbury on Saturday.

The annual Indian festival celebrates the victory of light over darkness and good over evil.

South West Indian Group president Parthasarathy Ramesh said the event was a great success.

“I was thrilled to have seen hundreds of South West and Perth community residents turning out for the sell-out event on Saturday,” he said.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

About 500 people attended the event, which was supported by Lotterywest, the Bunbury City Council and a range of businesses.

“Due to the COVID-19 restrictions we limited our ticket numbers to a few hundred and we were sold out two weeks before the event with a long waiting list for cancellations,” Dr Ramesh said.

“I was pleased to see the variety of performances offered by the local Noongar community, school children and performers of all ages from Top Jazz Ballet and around Western Australia.

“The highlight event of the evening was the fire dancers with their interactive fire demo with the audience followed by a mesmerising Bollywood-themed dance.”

Catering left over from the event was donated to Bunbury’s ShoeString Cafe which supports those disadvantaged families and those experiencing homelessness.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails