I'm not sure, I felt the same about the festival of light, I did all activities that were listed, I looked at the pretty lights in the river, took some screenshots, wished at the tree, I tried the unique food, I bought a unique outfit and I sacrificed something at the gravestones. That was about it. It was okay I guess.
Something that enhanced it a bit was that I had given all townies makeovers, I also increase the amount of sims in the zone so more people attended and walked around. It doesn't add any gameplay but it looks nice... I did the same with the festivals in Sulani.