Times Square Diwali Delights 1000s Despite Rain
The 10th annual Festival of Lights featured live music, dance, and community booths as thousands gathered in Duffy Square to honor Diwali’s spirit.
| 11 Nov 2025 | 04:14
Honorees were recognized during the celebration with Neeta Bhasin and Shilpa Maniar onstage. (
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Crowds braved the rain to participate in the Diwali celebration, which had been rescheduled after October’s nor’easter knocked out Diwali and the Columbus Day Parade. (
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The busy, if wet, Diwali Times Square scene near the booths. (
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Rain drenched the 10th annual Diwali celebration in Times Square, yet the lights blazed brighter, the music thumped louder, and the crowd danced on.
Times Square needed no diya (Indian lamps)—the billboards’ vivid colors and neon glow lit the night.
The very same screens that count down for New Year’s Eve flashed a vibrant Diwali greeting to the largely Indian-heritage crowds.
Procter & Gamble and Mastercard sponsored the rescheduled extravaganza on Nov. 9, featuring a mainstage, live artists, and interactive booths.
Featured in the Times Square countdown, P&G–sponsored ads with prominent Indian-descent influencers Ami Desai and Kalissa Persaud, wished the entire city a joyful Festival of Lights.
Diwali 2025 fell on Oct. 20, but a nor’easter postponed the original Oct. 12 date. This same storm knocked out this year’s Columbus Day parade also.
As Straus News previously reported, the storm brought more than 4 inches of rainfall and winds above 60 mph.
The rain that fell during the rescheduled event—nearly half a centimeter during the day amid mild 59-degree temperatures and light winds, according to World Weather—couldn’t dampen the revelry.
Despite brief midday rain showers, the mainstage set up in Duffy Square drew hundreds of attendees on the platform and surrounding plaza, suggesting that more than 1,000 people were present for the live event.
The Times Square Red Stairs were blocked off for the celebration.
Diwali at Times Square partnered with numerous media outlets, but one YouTube channel, Live Walking NYC, streamed four hours of the event, which had garnered over 10,000 views within 24 hours of posting.
“This is the determination. Look at it. India has 1.4 billion people who love you, who are with the world. So even a little bit of rain, discomfort, for peace and love, we will go anywhere,” said Che Isayola, a Brooklyn-based attendee, expressing the personal and global spirit of Diwali.
“We have to have peace and love for the world. We are all human beings. We are here on earth for however long we’re supposed to be. So we should be peaceful and loving to each other. Namaste.”