Item 6A - Narrative
Aug 2nd, 2023
This year will mark the 6th year of Diwalifest celebrated hosted by Southlake Foundation. Diwali, or also
known as Deepavali or Festival of Lights, is India's biggest festival and most important holiday of the
year. The festival gets its name from the row (avail) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians light outside their
homes to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness.
The event is scheduled for Saturday Oct 28th, 2023, Event starts at 12 Noon and ends at 10 PM. We will
have kids and adults participate and have cultural programs at the main stage. There will be liquor in
accordance with TABC guidelines, live food stations and food trucks serving hot food. As show in Site
Plan alcohol sales will be near Grand Ave and we will have alcohol barrier fencing, and volunteers/officer
at entry/exit points to alcohol sales area. Kids Zone area will be setup on State St near the Rustin Park
with Face painting and Inflatables like Bounce House /slides, we will have volunteers at Kids zone. Apart
from food, music and cultural performances, there is a variety of handicraft, art, jewelry, and other
vendor stalls for the attendees to visit. We will have about 70 to 80 vendors including food vendors. The
fireworks and drone show will be marking the prime time (8:30 PM) for the event. Setting up for event
will start on Friday Oct 27th at 10 PM. Every year we have been renting generators to draw the power
where required, will do the same for this year event.
In 2022 we have been informed by the DPS that ~15,000 people show up for the Diwalifest. This year
(2023) we would expect the same flow. We have learned quite a lot from 2022. We would like to
increase the boundaries of the event as in Exhibit A. We will be requesting 8 uniformed officers. We will
have first-aid kit and physicians on stand-by at SLF Booth. We will have volunteers/security company
man the barricades. We will have volunteers at street intersections/barricade to guide people to event
and parking areas, will also have volunteers at the event and vendor tents to control and guide people.
As we will have water Barricades that should help prevent moving barricades around. We will have
about 250 Volunteers at the event. Townsquare has quite a big space for parking, and we will continue
to use East and West Parking Garages. We will use Golf carts to drop off elderly at point near the
intersection of Grand St/Fountain Pl (as shown in Exhibit A). Volunteers will park in West Parking
Garage.
For tent setup we will use water buckets/blocks/sand buckets and each tent is 12 feet by 12 feet.
Dumpsters will be placed located near the west parking garage behind Town Hall with plywood
underneath, Porta Potty will be placed on Fountain Pl near State St, will coordinate with KITE realty, and
we will work with City to help with renting dumpsters, Porta Potty and fireworks fencing. 24 ഼ x 36഼
signage will be used for storefronts; window displays and indoors. Yard and political signs will be
between 5” - 7”. Roadside and sidewalk signs will be between 6” - 12”.
All activities and entertainment will be consistent with the previous year’s event. We request to
continue to have the ability to access the park property the day of Diwalifest. We will have the presence
of police officers at the event. We will have proper insurance for the event. Events clean-up will start at
10 PM on Saturday Oct 28th, 2023.
Due to the many years of experience by the event organizers and the stability and maturity of the event,
we are respectfully requesting to be granted a Specific Use Permit in perpetuity.
Sincerely
Kush Rao
Southlake Foundation