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Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights. But this year there won’t be fireworks or drones in the air at the Morrisville celebration Oct. 17 at Community Park.
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In a 48-minute Town Council debate Tuesday, council members pushed back after Mayor TJ Cawley explored vendors and sponsors for a drone show.
The debate turned into a broader argument over the limits of an elected official’s role after the town attorney warned council members against independently contacting vendors, obtaining proposals or negotiating contracts.
“You can’t be the staff and the policy maker,” he said.
Cawley told The News & Observer that he believed his outreach was appropriate and that he was trying to find a privately funded replacement after learning town staff had eliminated this year’s fireworks. He said he would involve fellow council members earlier if a similar situation arose again.
The council did not take a formal vote but reached consensus to leave the event unchanged.
Morrisville began holding an official Diwali festival five years ago. In 2020, the town reported that Asian Indians made up about 36% of its nearly 30,000 residents, roughly 10,700 people. Twenty years before, Morrisville had only 230 Asian Indian residents, 4.4% of the population.
Staff said the decision to remove fireworks came out of the post-2025 event review and the subsequent reduction in the special-events budget. Staff cited relatively low attendance, difficulty finding a date that did not conflict with other local Diwali events, and a desire to scale down the event.
Several council members said Tuesday they did not realize fireworks had been eliminated.
Cawley said he got his idea after reading about Apex’s July 3 drone show. “I also used ChatGPT to determine who would be some good drone vendors that would serve our area,” Cawley told The N&O.
Cawley told Town Manager Brandon Zuidema on July 13 that he was reaching out to area organizations about possible support for a drone show.
When the mayor asked about pursuing sponsors, the manager told him, “I’m not going to tell you what to do, Mayor.” Zuidema confirmed that exchange but said staff did not ask Cawley to take any action.
Cawley contacted drone vendors, obtained two proposals and informed fellow council members only after he had proposals in hand, he said.
Last year’s roughly 10-minute fireworks show cost about $10,000. Cawley said the two drone proposals from BrightWave FX and Skyworx were $15,000 and $20,000. BrightWave quoted 150- and 300-drone options.
Cawley said he made clear that he was acting as an individual council member, was not speaking for the town and was not committing Morrisville to anything.
Aaron Williams, BrightWave’s owner, told The N&O he understood Cawley’s inquiry to be exploratory, “not a definitive show.” But because federal authorization could take weeks, Williams filed an FAA request Aug. 28 allowing the proposed show to get in the queue while the town decided whether to proceed.
About the sponsors, Cawley said Atlantic Union Bank and Fidelity Investments had each expressed willingness to provide about $5,000 toward the proposed show. Cawley said he planned to seek additional sponsors to close the gap.
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“I think it’s a mistake to set the precedent that one council person can go rogue and make a material change to an event without the buy-in of the rest of the council,” said Mayor Pro Tem Anne Robotti.
Later, she said she believed Cawley was trying to do something good and that her objection was procedural.
Council Member Liz Johnson said that without Robotti raising the issue, “I still wouldn’t know any of this, and that in itself is incredibly problematic.”
Council Member Satish Garimella, who said he has celebrated Diwali all his life, compared replacing its fireworks with drones to replacing July Fourth fireworks with drones.
“I believe what I did was appropriate,” Cawley told The N&O.
The town attorney said a vendor contacted by an elected official could assume the request carried special importance, while the official might not know what other vendors should have an opportunity to submit proposals.
Kimberly Nelson, a professor at UNC’s School of Government who studies local-government management, said elected officials in council-manager governments generally act collectively. Soliciting proposals, dealing with vendors on procurement matters and negotiating contracts are typically administrative functions handled by the manager and staff.
“Direct involvement by elected officials can create confusion about who has authority to speak for the organization and can complicate procurement processes,” Nelson told The N&O. She said such conduct can be inconsistent with the council-manager model without necessarily violating state law.
Fireworks are a popular and longstanding Diwali tradition, including among Triangle organizations, but they are not a religious requirement, and members of the local Hindu and Indian community differ over whether drones are an appropriate substitute.
Hum Sub president Usha Sankar said fireworks are an “important and well-loved tradition” and have always been the concluding highlight of Hum Sub’s Diwali.
Kishor Trivedi, member of the Hindu Society of North Carolina (HSNC) Board of Governance, said fireworks are culturally traditional, but not religiously essential. Lamps and puja are more central to the holiday, he said, and a drone show could be an acceptable alternative.
The Hindu Society plans to have controlled fireworks at its celebration this year.
Society President Parag Dighe said that, to his knowledge, Morrisville did not consult the organization about the details of this year’s celebration.
CleanAIRE NC said a drone show would likely have a lower local air-quality impact than fireworks because fireworks release fine particulate matter and other pollutants directly into the air, though the broader climate impact of drones depends on factors such as electricity, manufacturing and battery use.
On Wednesday, BrightWave canceled its FAA request after Cawley told the company the show would not proceed.
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