Festival and Events Ontario has named the 2022 Diwali Celebration as Best New Festival for 2023.
The Belleville Chamber of Commerce marked the occasion in a press release Thursday morning.
“We’re most excited about the recognition for Diwali as it was truly a collaborative effort,” said Jill Raycroft, CEO Belleville Chamber of Commerce, in a release.
The chamber says a group of eight people from the South Asian/Indian community were able to provide guidance to the Discover Belleville team to help coordinate the event.
The committee included Vik Thakur, Remax Quinte and Vatsal Patel, Allstate Insurance, along with recent graduates from Loyalist College, Hardik Patel (Belleville International), Manpreet & Manpriya Kaur, Laila Bharyya and Madhu Potukuchi, International Advisor, Loyalist College.
Members of the Belleville Diwali Festival organizing committee speak at Belleville council’s meeting Monday September 26/22. (Photo: Quinte News)
“Understanding the importance of culturally significant elements of Diwali and how they could be incorporated into making this celebration as authentic to the experience they know was critical to the success of the event,” said Tiffany Young, Special Events Coordinator on behalf of Discover Belleville, in the release.
It was also noted that the Belleville Waterfront & Multicultural Festival gained recognition as a Top 100 festival in Ontario.
It is the eighth consecutive year where the Belleville Waterfront & Multicultural Festival received this recognition.
