Diwali Mela 2010 in Jackson Heights?

[spicy28]

Does anyone know when this year's Diwali Mela 2010 will occur in Little India on74th Street btw Roosevelt and 37th avenue? Is it 11/5? Thank so much!

[DaveCook]

In 2010, the date of Diwali itself is November 5. My understanding is that traditionally, the 74th St. mela is held the previous weekend; it's a shopping event as well as a celebration of its own. This year's mela, however, has not been finalized. By phone I spoke with a fellow at Al-Naimat, the sweets shop and restaurant near the corner of 37th Ave. He cited disagreements within the Jackson Heights Merchants Association, noting that though Queens would be host to Diwali celebrations in other locations, the 74th St. Diwali Mela was not a certainty this year.

He also added that for folks who like fresh jalebi...

http://www.eatingintranslation.com/20...

...Al-Naimat prepares it every other morning, and consistently on Friday. To be sure, you can always call ahead if you'll be in the neighborhood.

-----
Al-Naimat
37-03 74th St, Queens, NY 11372

[spicy28]

That definitely explains why there's not much being said about it. Thanks for posting!

[Ayun]

Just bumping this up to see if there's any new info...

[Mr Porkchop]

Walked around there this afternoon. I didn't pay close attention but there were posters for it all over, pretty sure the date listed was Oct. 30th.

[Ayun]

thank you, Mr. Porkchop. not the 5th of nov? that seems to be the date other cities are celebrating.

[Ayun]

whoopsie daisy, dug a bit deeper and found your poster!
http://diwalimotorcade.com/index.html
it is october 30!

[DaveCook]

News of nearby events is always welcome, but the event promoted by the poster linked to by Ayun (which may or may not be the poster spotted by Mr Porkchop) is for a Diwali motorcade in Richmond Hill, Queens. We're still awaiting confirmation for a Diwali mela on 74th St. in Jackson Heights.

[Mr Porkchop]

Different poster. Since I irresponsibly got the issue going I did a little web searching, and I'm afraid this might be the poster I actually saw: http://cities.sulekha.com/new-york/ev...

Again, sorry, I didn't pay close attention since I'm out of town this weekend.

[exoram]

Not sure when the one in jackson heights is happening but there is a big one going on in manhattan on october 3rd

http://socialroots.com/events/23rd-An...

[MikeG]

I haven't been able to find anything on the web, but assuming it's happening this year, I would expect it well before Nov 5.

This one will probably be more geared to non-Indian tourists than the one in Jackson Heights, but I did see that there's something going on at South Street Seaport on, I think, October 3.