Leicester Diwali Festival revamp unveiled

Diwali, which will be celebrated in November, is one of the biggest festivals in the Indian calendar and is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains

Leicester's Diwali festival, which had been described as "stale bread", will be revamped to introduce a fortnight of events, the city council has said.

Traditionally a light switch-on day and a Diwali day event, with a firework display, is held in the Belgrave area.

This year, the planned two-week celebration will have new activities in the city centre, in libraries and museums and at the football stadium.

Leicester City Council said it would be "bigger and brighter than ever".

The annual Diwali events, which attract more than 35,000 people along Leicester's Golden Mile, are believed to be among the biggest celebrations outside of India.

However, Anand Bhatt, a dance school owner, had said: "Diwali has become stale, in that the same thing keeps happening."

The Ferris wheel, giving people a view of the city's skyline, will be located off Belgrave Road from Friday 16 October to Sunday 15 November

The revamped festival will begin with the Diwali light switch-on on Sunday 1 November.

The switch on will be followed by city-wide events including a 100ft (30m) ferris wheel on the Belgrave Road, a Diwali Mela on Humberstone Gate West, live Rangoli at the Clock Tower, cookery demonstrations at Leicester Market, exhibitions at the Peepul Centre and dance at Leicester City's King Power Stadium.

Mr Bhatt said the new programme was good progress, but it still felt like a local event.

"We need people to be tweeting at that moment that this was the most incredible experience, or uploading their You Tube videos," he said.

"We need moments that make people go, 'wow'."

Diwali Day on Wednesday 11 November will be celebrated with fireworks on Cossington Street

Councillor Piara Singh-Clair, assistant city mayor, said: "We need to improve, make it more vibrant and appealing to people who come from outside Leicester."

He said that the change had been a result of community feedback and support from other local organisations.