Tucked away in the warehouses surrounding Wilmington Airport, a newly renovated temple served as a beacon to Delaware's growing Indian population celebrating Diwali.

Diwali is the festival of lights and a new year celebration for people of the Hindu faith around the world. The official day is Oct. 20, but thousands streamed in and out of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir near New Castle to mark the high holy day. The temple was recently renovated, with the upgrades being completed last December. This was the first time seeing the new space for many in the temple.

Nathan Patel, a 27-year-old from New Castle, has grown up with this temple, which he said has risen to new demand.

"To watch the population growth is crazy," he said on the afternoon of Oct. 18. "I feel like there's a lot of st

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