GALLERY: 800 people turn to celebrate Springfield Diwali Festival

About 800 people turned out to the Springfield Diwali Festival on Friday night. Check out our gallery of the celebrations.

About 800 people turned out to celebrate the Springfield Diwali Festival on Friday night, after free tickets to the night were snapped up in a matter of hours.

Springfield City Group were “overwhelmed” by the response and said the final number of attendees was double the tickets they originally planned to release.

The festival was held at Event Cinemas Springfield in Main Street on Friday night.

New Bollywood blockbuster Sooryavanshi, only recently released worldwide, was screened exclusively as part of the celebration of Diwali, also known as the “Festival of Lights”.

The five-day Diwali Festival of Lights is India’s most important festival of the year and brings prayer, feasts, fireworks and, for some, a new year.

Guests were also gifted an assortment of Indian sweets sponsored by Guru Property.

“We wanted it to be much more than just a celebration of Diwali,” Springfield City Group’s Narendran Sinnathamby said.

“It was also an opportunity for Springfield City Group to acknowledge the tremendous contribution our large Indian community has made to the Greater Springfield region, which is one of Australia’s fastest growing developments.”

Mr Sinnathamby said guests wore traditional attire for the event, and the first hour featured a special VIP session for dignitaries including Federal Member for Oxley Milton Dick, State MP for Jordan Charis Mullen and Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding.

“It’s the first time SCG has marked Diwali in this fashion,” he said.

“It was a fun night for all the families who came along and a vibrant celebration of Indian tradition,

culture and dance”.

Check out our gallery of the night below.

GALLERY: 800 people turn to celebrate Diwali in style

VIEW GALLERY