Prayas Columbus is throwing open the doors of Mifflin High School this weekend for its 15th anniversary Durga Puja festival, a three-day celebration of Bengali heritage running Friday through Sunday, Oct. 23 through 25, 2026, at 3245 Oak Spring St. The nonprofit is billing the gathering as a showcase of music, dance, food, art and tradition built around one of the most significant festivals in the Hindu calendar.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, the festival kicks off Friday evening with a 7 p.m. concert by Somlata and The Aces, continues from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and wraps up Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The band's appearance was confirmed by Prayas Columbus, which announced the musical lineup for its 2026 Durga Puja Tour on its website.
The Columbus Dispatch describes Prayas as a nonprofit organization aimed at infusing traditional Bengali culture with a Western lifestyle to build a stronger community. The group says its broader mission is to strengthen the Bengali community's ties to its roots by celebrating festivals and organizing cultural events, and it has carried that work in Columbus since its founding in April 2012.
A Festival Rooted In An Ancient Victory Story
Durga Puja honors the Hindu goddess Durga and commemorates her victory over the demon king Mahishasura, a story that symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. Margaret W. Wong & Associates attributes this account to Incredible India. The festival is observed annually in September or October, most notably in Kolkata, in West Bengal of India, but also amongst the Bengali diaspora, according to UNESCO, which inscribed the tradition in 2021 on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
UNESCO notes the festival is characterized by large-scale installations and pavilions in urban areas, along with traditional Bengali drumming and veneration of the goddess. The goddess is typically depicted with eight or ten arms. Celebrations traditionally center on temporary decorated structures called pandals that house clay idols known as murtis. UNESCO says the festival has increasingly come to signify a kind of homecoming or seasonal return to one's roots.
Tickets, Timing And Family Accommodations
Registration for Friday's concert runs $55 for the performance alone or $70 for concert and dinner together, per the Dispatch's reporting. A wider range of registration options is available for the Saturday and Sunday programming. Organizers have also said children under 12 will not be allowed in the auditorium during the concert, though the festival will provide free certified babysitting services for families who want to attend anyway.
UNESCO describes Durga Puja as an outstanding instance of the public performance of religion and art. A 2025 pilot program spanning 24 pandals in Kolkata incorporated non-negotiable accessibility standards, according to UNESCO, part of a push to make the centuries-old celebration more inclusive as it spreads to new communities.
Not The Only Celebration In Ohio This Season
Columbus isn't the only Ohio city marking the holiday this month. The North East Ohio Bengali Association presented its own Durga Puja festival at Solon Middle School in October 2026, according to Margaret W. Wong & Associates, reflecting how the holiday has taken root across the state's South Asian communities even as it retains its deepest roots in eastern India's West Bengal region, in contrast with Navratri's stronger associations with western India's Gujarat.
Prayas is listed as a 501(c)(3) sociocultural organization by Columbus Makes Art. Less than 15 years after its 2012 founding, the group's anniversary festival stands as its latest attempt to keep that Bengali heritage visible and accessible in central Ohio.
