THUNDER BAY — The city’s celebration of Indian culture continued with the 16th annual Festival of Colours on Sunday.
“Festival of Colours is a thousands of year old tradition coming back from India, which (is) why we call it a Holi Festival, which means the celebration of life when you throw colours in the air,” said Prashant Jani, the local festival’s organizer.
“…We throw our worries into the wind and make our life joyful and colourful.”
Jani said they are expecting at least more than 2,000 people on Sunday, as that many tickets have already been sold.
However, he added that more people will show up.
“There are hundreds and thousands of people already here. So (we’re) very happy. We… already (did the) first colour throw,” said Jani.
For the festival, Jani said there will be spectacular interactive dances, music, lots of food and the colour throws.
The festival also featured some cultural booths, off-stage and on-stage entertainment and other family-friendly attractions.
“Everybody’s invited to come and enjoy the colour throw,” said Jani.
Swastik Chawla attended the festival for the second time, alongside his friend Vikrim Sarin, on Sunday. He said it felt pretty good coming out to the festival.
“You get to do a lot of activities. There are a lot of things you can buy, the colours and you can pull the chariot. It’s very fun,” said Chawla.
Chawla added that his favourite part of the festival was throwing colours at each other, running and chasing people.
Last year, Chawla and Sarin had the opportunity to go on stage and announce the lucky draw winner, who happened to be Chawla’s friend.
“When I was on the stage last year, it felt very weird at first, but I was with my best friend, so it was not that bad,” said Sarin.
This year, Sarin said he was most excited about throwing colours and playing soccer with his friends.
“I’m enjoying the festival because the weather is amazing. I get to see all my friends and throwing the colours just really makes my day because then I like seeing people smile,” said Sarin.
He encourages guests to “just have fun” there today, as the festival is once a year.
The Festival of Colours will continue until 8 p.m. with admission costing $15 for guests. The cost includes coloured powder for the celebration.
