Aurora Diwali celebration at Metea Valley High School

Aurora’s Festival of Lights returns to a school hall the Fox Valley already knows.

The city’s Indian American Community Outreach Advisory Board invites the public on Saturday, October 24, 2026 at Metea Valley High School, 1801 North Eola Road. Listings put the start at 2:00 p.m., with diyas, lights, music, food, and family programming.

The volunteer-driven board has staged Aurora Diwali at Metea Valley for years. The 2025 edition drew an estimated three thousand guests with free admission, free parking, performances, ethnic food, and merchandise. Treat 2026 end time and stage grids as confirm-on-listing closer to October. Prior years ran into early evening, roughly 2:00 to 8:00 p.m., so plan for a long afternoon.

Indian American families across Aurora, Naperville, and the Fox Valley are the core. Festive wear is welcome. Comfortable shoes still win once the room fills. Kids are part of the design; parents stay responsible for supervision. Elders will appreciate an earlier arrival before the loudest performance block.

Metea Valley sits on Eola Road on Aurora’s east side. Drive and use school-lot parking. Pair leftover Mid-Autumn memories from Pacifica Square if you already do Fox Valley Asian calendars. Schaumburg Garba wraps around the same mid-October window on a different holiday clock.

Since 2014 the advisory board has treated this night as a city cultural cornerstone. Mayor proclamations and scholarship partners have shown up in recent years. That civic frame is why the afternoon feels public and walkable. Recent coverage also noted scholarship awards tied to the board’s Fox River Valley partnerships, which is useful context if you care how a community Diwali funds more than one night of lights.

Fox Valley households already know Metea as a District 204 landmark. Meet friends at the school entrance, claim seats early, and give yourself time for food and merchandise lines. Naperville and Aurora readers who already did Pacifica Mid-Autumn can treat Diwali as the October return trip on the same corridor.

Confirm free-admission notes on the live listing before you leave. Community pages sometimes tighten hours as October approaches. If the 2025 crowd scale holds, three thousand people in a high-school footprint means early arrival helps elders.

Our take: mark this if you live in the Fox Valley and want a city-backed public Diwali hall. Arrive near 2:00 p.m. if you are bringing elders. Downtown Chicago Diwali is a different trip.

When: October 24, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. (confirm end time on the live listing)
Where: Metea Valley High School, 1801 N Eola Rd, Aurora, IL 60502

Confirm details via City of Aurora Indian American Community Outreach Advisory Board listings as October approaches.