Ektaa Diwali Fest 2026 at Great Park Live in Irvine

Ektaa Diwali Fest is Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 1 to 9 p.m. at Great Park Live, 8000 Great Park Boulevard, Irvine. The City of Irvine calendar is the 2026 lock. The Ektaa Center is the community partner.

Diwali itself falls on Sunday, November 8 this year. Irvine puts the public version two weeks early, on the outdoor Great Park Live site. The city page reads as a save-the-date cultural celebration. It does not post a ticket price. Follow the city listing, then Ektaa’s Instagram, @ektaacenter, the week of.

Great Park Live’s own event URL can lag or read as ended. Do not treat that stale page as your source. The city calendar and Ektaa’s social are the live trail.

Ektaa Center is an Irvine cultural nonprofit that already uses city rooms for Indian holiday programs. Great Park Live is the same lawn-and-stage campus that held Chimac Fest in August. You are outdoors with a Diwali partner, not inside a mandir.

Aikotaan’s Durga Puja is the weekend before, October 9–11, at Chinmaya Mission on Franklin Avenue in Tustin. That is a ticketed Bengali puja, not Diwali. Artesia’s International Street Fair is earlier, October 3, on Pioneer Boulevard. Little India is the shopping street. Irvine is the city stage.

The Great Park sits east of the 5 and the 405, off Sand Canyon and Irvine Boulevard. Parking is on the Great Park campus and fills when a concert overlaps. Rise Against is on the Great Park Live calendar the night before, October 23. Plan for leftover lot traffic if you arrive early Saturday.

The outdoor room is windy after dark. Bring a layer for 9. The city Great Park desk is (949) 724-6247, greatpark@cityofirvine.org. Confirm the door rule the Thursday before. If a ticket link appears on the city page, use that. If it stays a save-the-date, treat 1 p.m. as the start.

Irvine’s Indian American calendar already uses city rooms for Holi and smaller holiday programs. Ektaa is the partner that makes this Saturday a public Diwali rather than a closed temple RSVP. Great Park Live is a stage and a lawn. Kids can sit on the grass. You will not get aarti hours from the city page. For puja, go to a mandir a different night.

Our take: this is the OC Diwali to put on a calendar if you want a city Saturday and not a temple RSVP. Arrive closer to 1 if you have kids. If you only do one South Asian weekend in October, pick by geography: Tustin for puja, Irvine for lights, Pioneer for the street.

When: October 24, 2026, 1–9 p.m.
Where: Great Park Live, 8000 Great Park Blvd, Irvine, CA 92618