Source: www.dallasnews.com
DALLAS, TEXAS, October 5, 2009: The thousands gathered in a parking lot at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday commemorated Diwali Mela — the Hindu festival of lights — helping celebrate the diversity of North Texas.
This is the fourth year the festival, which is popular not just in India but with Indian immigrants around the world, has been celebrated in North Texas. Last year at Texas Stadium in Irving, it attracted 73,000 people, according to its sponsors, the Dallas Fort Worth Indian Cultural Society.
Though supporters had hoped for 100,000 at the event’s first appearance at the new Cowboys Stadium, rain and unseasonably cool weather may have held down attendance. About 24,000 people were at Sunday’s festival, stadium officials said.
On Sunday, the Texas version was marked with a combination of the old and new. Booths selling foods such as sev puri, kaechi dabeli and chole samosas were interspersed with those offering frappuccinos and strawberry smoothies.