Southland embraces important festival

Hamilton Dance Group’s mother and daughter duo Manat Kaur Bath, 8, and Rubinder Kaur perform a traditional Punjabi folk dance called Bhangra at the GJ Gardner Diwali Festival at ILT Stadium Southland on Saturday.

The event attracted about 6000 attendees throughout the day including Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark and MP Penny Simmonds who both gave speeches.

Indian Community Southland president Vinay Sood said he was grateful to Southland for celebrating Diwali.

"Southland is home to over 2000 Kiwi Indians and Diwali is a momentous occasion for all Southlanders to come together and celebrate this significant festival with the Southland Indian families.

We are immensely thankful to be a part of this burgeoning, warm-hearted Southland community."