Northampton's 26th Diwali festival fills the Market Square on Saturday 31 October, 10am to 8pm, with the lantern parade at 6pm. The 2026 route is still to come.

Northampton’s Diwali Winter Festival of Lights is on Saturday 31 October 2026 on the Market Square, from 10am to 8pm, with the lantern parade setting off at 6pm. It is the festival’s 26th year. The town council’s Diwali page, last updated on 1 October, gives the date and the running order.

The quick answer

  • When: Saturday 31 October 2026. Stalls from 10am, stage entertainment from 12pm to 8pm, parade at 6pm.
  • Where: Market Square, Northampton town centre. The parade loops through the centre and ends back on the square.
  • Cost: the council’s page lists no entry charge, and its 2024 release called the celebrations free. Food and stalls cost what the traders charge.
  • Still to come: the 2026 parade route and any road closures.

What is on through the day

The festival is organised by the Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation Northampton (IHWO), with Northampton Town Council, West Northamptonshire Council and the town centre BID. The council lists the other partners as Inspiration Arts, Rost Productions, Inspiration FM, the University of Northampton, Northampton College, Royal & Derngate, Stageright Productions and the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, with National Lottery money through Arts Council England.

On the square, according to the council’s page:

  • cultural food and drink and community stalls, from 10am
  • live stage entertainment from 12pm to 8pm
  • henna painting, arts and crafts and saree dressing
  • the lantern procession and parade at 6pm, with giant puppets including Harminder the elephant

After the parade the festival finishes on the square with music and dancing, and the council’s page gives 8pm as the end of the day.

The parade route

The 2026 route has not been published yet. In 2025 the council put out the full route on 9 October, nine days before the festival; in 2024 its route release came three days before. Expect it in the middle of October, and we will add it here.

The route has barely changed between years, so this is the shape to expect. In 2025, per the council’s release of 9 October 2025:

  1. The parade formed at the Fish Street junction of Dychurch Lane at 6pm.
  2. It went on to The Ridings and down St Giles’ Terrace, pausing outside St Giles’ Church to receive the first Diwali light.
  3. Along St Giles’ Street to St Giles’ Square, stopping at the Guildhall for the second light.
  4. Walkers went down George Row to All Saints’ Church for the third light, while the large puppets and floats went up Wood Hill.
  5. Everyone was back on the Market Square at 7pm for the finale.

The 2024 route, in the council’s release of 23 October 2024, was the same in outline: Dychurch Lane and The Ridings, St Giles’ Terrace, St Giles’ Street and St Giles’ Square, down George Row and around All Saints’ Church, then on to the square.

The three stops, St Giles’ Church, the Guildhall and All Saints’, are where the parade pauses, and the finale is on the square itself.

Getting there and parking

No road closures have been advertised for 31 October. The parade uses streets in the core of the town centre, so expect short closures along the route around 6pm to 7pm; that is our reading of the route, not a published order. The roadworks and travel page will carry anything that goes on the register.

For car parks and the evening charges, see our guide to parking in Northampton. Two things make this Saturday busier than most:

  • Northampton Saints play Gloucester at Franklin’s Gardens at 5.30pm the same evening, per the club’s fixture list. Traffic heading west out of the centre will be heavy before kick-off.
  • It is the last day of the October half term for most West Northamptonshire schools, which break from 26 to 30 October.

The rest of that weekend

  • Bonfire Spooktacular, Duston Mill, Saturday 31 October: a paid display with a real bonfire, run by Gala Events. Times and prices are on our Northampton fireworks page.
  • Daventry and Brackley both have free fireworks the same night: Daventry, Brackley.
  • Northampton’s Fireworks Spectacular, Sunday 1 November on the Racecourse: entertainment from 4pm, fireworks at 6pm, free. Details on our fireworks page.

Everything else on in town that week is on our What’s On this month page.

How the date moves

The festival has been on a Saturday in October in each of the last three years, but not the same one. It was on 18 October in 2025 and 26 October in 2024, according to the council’s releases for those years. This year it is the last Saturday of the month, the day before the Racecourse fireworks.

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