During public comment at a Canton Township meeting, residents praised the township’s Festival of Lights as an inclusive cultural event and said it has become a model for nearby communities.

A resident described the event as “a celebration of light over darkness” and said the festival’s fireworks, costumes and colors draw large crowds. “This is a festival of lights, and this is a celebration of light over darkness. I really like the fireworks. Of course, there's so many people, so many outfits, and it's very colorful,” the resident said.

Another resident said Canton Township is “absolutely leading the way” on cultural programming and noted that the city of Novi plans to start its own Festival of Lights this year while Canton celebrates its fifth edition. “I’ll tell you, Canton Township is absolutely leading the way, when it comes to cultural programming, hearing that the city of Novi is going to be following suit, with their own festival of lights this year while we are celebrating our fifth,” the second resident said.

Speakers also said the festival helps Indian American residents feel welcome. “Our community has a lot of Indian Americans, so it just makes them feel that it's Canton is a welcoming community. I had a community person say, it feels like I'm home,” a resident said.

A second commenter framed the programming as part of a broader effort to expand civic inclusion: “We are redefining what it means to be a community, making sure that we have space for room for and that we incorporate everybody. We have programming where everybody can see that their government is a reflection of them,” the commenter said.

There were no formal actions, votes or staff directives recorded in the transcript on this item; the remarks occurred during public comment and reflected attendees’ views of the festival and related cultural programming.

The township’s Festival of Lights was identified by speakers as being in its fifth year and as influencing neighboring Novi’s plans to start a similar event.