Diwali fell on Sunday, November 8, this year, according to both the timeanddate U.S. observance calendar and Drik Panchang. Lunada Bay's own celebration comes six days later. It runs Saturday, November 14, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Lunada Bay Park, 2201 Palos Verdes Drive West.

The gap is normal for this event. Lunada Bay's Festival of Lights is organized by neighbors and has always been held on a Saturday that suits the neighborhood, whatever the holiday's date. Two other things have changed over its short run. The way people get in has moved from a phone number to an online box office. This year's start time also puts sunset less than an hour into the evening.

Three Saturdays, Three Different Positions Around the Holiday

The 2024 listing in Palos Verdes Pulse asked guests to save the date of November 2, from 5 to 8 p.m. It also told them to buy tickets by Venmo or Zelle sent straight to Shikha. In 2025, the party moved ahead of the holiday to October 18. Timeanddate lists Diwali that year as Monday, October 20. Palos Verdes Pulse reported that more than 700 people came to Lunada Bay Park that evening.

This year the event is listed on Ticket Tailor, and the page says "online advance tickets only." In two years, the event went from a payment app and a phone number to a ticketing platform. A crowd of more than 700 helps explain the change. The Daily Breeze calendar for late October calls this year's capacity limited.

One Neighbor's Tradition, Run Without an Organization

The organizer is Shikha Vidjearadji. The Daily Breeze identified her by name in its coverage of the 2025 event. Speaking to Palos Verdes Pulse last fall, she said the event began three years earlier and explained why she started it:

"Three years ago, I began the tradition of Lunada Bay Diwali to invite more luck and prosperity into our lives and our community."

No formal organization appears on the ticket page. The event runs under the name "Lunada Bay's Festival of Lights," and the ticket account is called simply "lunadabaydiwali." A neighbor's event with no organization behind it has no reason to follow the holiday. It follows whichever Saturday the host and the park can both make work.

Sunset Splits the Evening

Timeanddate puts sunset at about 4:50 p.m. on November 14, using its Rancho Palos Verdes reading. That is a few minutes from the bluffs at Lunada Bay. The 2024 festival started at 5 p.m. This year's starts at 4. Set against the ticket page's posted schedule, the evening runs like this:

1. 4:00 p.m. Doors open, with the entrance on Via Anacapa past Lunada Market.
2. 4:30 p.m. Dinner service begins.
3. About 4:50 p.m. The sun sets over the bay, during the first plates of dinner.
4. 6:30 p.m. Raffle and prizes, almost two hours after dark.
5. 7:00 p.m. The event ends.

The first stretch is in daylight, with a view across the water. The rest of the evening, more than two hours, takes place after dark. For a festival named for lights, that is the part of the schedule that counts most. Guests who arrive at 4 see both halves. Guests who arrive at 6 see only the lit-up part.

Last year's lighting gives a sense of what darkness can bring to the park. Palos Verdes Pulse credited Beach City Christmas Lights with the 2025 lighting and described a light robot show. It also reported dhol drumming, Bhangra and Bollywood performances, a chai cart, a 360-degree photo booth, henna, and a kids' soft-play area. That was the 2025 program. The 2026 ticket page lists catered Indian food, a Bollywood DJ, a bar, henna, games, raffles, and prizes. It also promises more than $2,000 in gift cards and raffle prizes.

The 2025 menu suggests what catered Indian food has meant here before. It included samosas, chicken tikka, pakoras, chicken tikka masala, naan, and dal makhani, followed by rice pudding and a mango lassi.

What the Ticket Page Asks of Guests

The ticket rules show that the event has grown beyond a casual drop-in. Prices are:

• Ages 10 and up: $40
• Ages 5 to 9: $20
• Under 5: free
• Friends and Family Pack: five adult tickets for $175, which works out to $35 each against the $40 single price

All sales are final and non-refundable. Signature cocktails are sold separately. The dress code is Indian festive wear or elegant evening and cocktail attire. Because tickets are sold online in advance only, buying one at the curb on Saturday is not an option.

Parking is on Palos Verdes Drive West, Via Anacapa, and Yarmouth. Those are the same streets that serve the plaza on any weekend. During the event they will also hold the cars of a crowd that reached more than 700 last year.

A Park Built Where a Gas Station Stood

The festival's setting has its own Lunada Bay history. On June 4, 2017, the City of Palos Verdes Estates and the Lunada Bay Homeowners Association held a plaque dedication for Lunada Bay Park and Fountain. The city's notice recognized the elected officials, volunteers, and residents who helped acquire and develop the site. Joseph Sherwood was mayor during the acquisition. At the ceremony, he spoke about turning the site of a former gas station into a park that, in the city's words, is "now enjoyed by residents for special events and its health and wellness benefits."

The Lunada Bay Homeowners Association calls the adjoining plaza "the gathering place for residents of Lunada Bay." A ticketed evening of food, music, and lights for hundreds of people is about as clear an example of special-event use as the city's description allows.

Before and After, Around the Plaza

The event entrance on Via Anacapa sits among the plaza's storefronts. Lunada Bay Hardware is at 2216 Via Anacapa and lists Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Anyone who needs an extension cord or porch lights the morning of the festival has time to get there. Salsa Verdes is at 2325 Palos Verdes Drive West and serves until 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, two hours after the festival closes.

The plaza has added a couple of newer stops in the past year and a half. Java Wave took over the former St. Honoré space and added an outdoor patio, according to a Palos Verdes Pulse profile from August 2025. Lunada Creamery was featured in Southbay magazine in November 2025 as a new soft-serve shop in Lunada Bay Plaza.

Lunada Market sits at the turn into the festival entrance. Everyone with a ticket will walk past it on the way in.

A park on an old gas station site, a plaza the homeowners association has worked to improve, and a neighbor's party that drew more than 700 guests last year all count when a Lunada Bay home is valued. If you own in Lunada Bay and want to know what your home is worth today, Suzanne Dyer offers a confidential home valuation.