Ogden’s second ‘Festival of Colors’ celebrates spring and sprituality
The crowd at the Holi Festival of Colors throws color powder into the air as they dance at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. Most participants in the festival dressed in white in order t better show the rainbow of colors flying through the air.
A visitor to the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park listens to music on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The annual festival features music, dance, yoga, food and more, but it is best known for the throwing of the colors.
Jai Krishna leads the crowd and his band, Ananda Groove, in song at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The festival featured both traditional and modern dance and music.
Isaiah Towery listens as Ananda Groove performs at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. This was the second year that the festival was put on in Ogden by the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.
Josh Fisher, left, Isaiah Towery, center, and Dakota Flieder dance during a performance by Ananda Groove at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The annual festival features music, dance, yoga, food and more, but it is best known for the throwing of the colors.
Isaiah Towery listens as Ananda Groove performs at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. This was the second year that the festival was put on in Ogden by the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.
Dakota Flieder dances as Ananda Groove performs at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. This was the second year that the festival was put on in Ogden by the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.
Jai Krishna, the leader of the band Anada Groove, dances in the crowd during his performance at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
A visitor to the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park listens to music on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The annual festival features music, dance, yoga, food and more, but it is best known for the throwing of the colors.
Dancers at the Holi Festival of Colors throw color powder into the air at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
Sierra Fuhriman dances on Amber Broderick's shoulders during the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
Mitch Henrie dances during a color throw at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. Hundreds of spectators turned out for the annual event which welcomes the arrival of spring.
Visitors at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park take a break from the music to participate in yoga classes on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
OGDEN — Ogden’s Lorin Farr Park burst with sunshine, tinted powder and smiling faces Saturday as locals turned out to celebrate springtime color.
It marked the second year members of the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple, the Utah Krishna Consciousness movement, have hosted the “Festival of Colors” in Ogden, a riff on the Hindu holiday of Holi. The family-friendly event featured live music, yoga, food and lots of colored powder.
Caru Das, the festival coordinator and founder of the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, said the festival also celebrates the metaphors of spring.
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- Mitch Henrie, right, screams before throwing a handful of color powder into the air at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. Hundreds of spectators turned out for the annual event which welcomes the arrival of spring.
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The crowd at the Holi Festival of Colors throws color powder into the air as they dance at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. Most participants in the festival dressed in white in order t better show the rainbow of colors flying through the air.
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A visitor to the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park listens to music on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The annual festival features music, dance, yoga, food and more, but it is best known for the throwing of the colors.
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Jai Krishna leads the crowd and his band, Ananda Groove, in song at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The festival featured both traditional and modern dance and music.
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Isaiah Towery listens as Ananda Groove performs at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. This was the second year that the festival was put on in Ogden by the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.
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Josh Fisher, left, Isaiah Towery, center, and Dakota Flieder dance during a performance by Ananda Groove at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The annual festival features music, dance, yoga, food and more, but it is best known for the throwing of the colors.
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Isaiah Towery listens as Ananda Groove performs at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. This was the second year that the festival was put on in Ogden by the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.
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Dakota Flieder dances as Ananda Groove performs at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. This was the second year that the festival was put on in Ogden by the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.
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Jai Krishna, the leader of the band Anada Groove, dances in the crowd during his performance at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
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A visitor to the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park listens to music on Saturday, May 28, 2016. The annual festival features music, dance, yoga, food and more, but it is best known for the throwing of the colors.
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Dancers at the Holi Festival of Colors throw color powder into the air at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
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Sierra Fuhriman dances on Amber Broderick’s shoulders during the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
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Mitch Henrie dances during a color throw at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park in Ogden on Saturday, May 28, 2016. Hundreds of spectators turned out for the annual event which welcomes the arrival of spring.
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Visitors at the Holi Festival of Colors at Lorin Farr Park take a break from the music to participate in yoga classes on Saturday, May 28, 2016.
“After the bareness and chill of winter, when the temperatures rise and the spring rains come, all those seeds which have lain dormant burst forth in colors of purple, yellow, green and blue,” he said. “Spring is a metaphor for change, rebirth, rejuvenation.”
The Utah Krishnas opened their first temple in 1996. They marked the 20th anniversary of their Spanish Fork-based festival in March, which now attracts 30,000 participants. The Utah Krishnas have since spread their color festival beyond Spanish Fork, hosting events in Salt Lake City, throughout California and in Nevada during the spring and summer.
The Ogden Festival of Colors is small by comparison, but Das said it has already grown.
“It’s a bigger crowd, probably 20 or 30 percent bigger than last year,” he said. “It’s Memorial Day weekend, too, so I think that’s significant as well. A lot of people are out of town.”
Beyond celebrating spring, Das said he wants the Festival of Colors to be a transformative, spiritual experience.
“We’re not byproducts of matter. We’re sparks from God. He’s full of light, full of knowledge, full of strength, full of wisdom, and that’s our nature,” he said. “But because we’ve come into this material world, you have to be diligent. You have to cultivate spirituality.”
Pakhi Misra, a director of the Krishna Temple in Salt Lake City, said the Festival of Colors is about opening hearts.
“When you are colored on the outside, your soul shines, because we are all the same here,” she said. “It doesn’t matter which religion or race you come from. At the end of it, we are all basically the same elements.”
Viewmont High School students Nick Wheeler, Emma Wheeler, Valerie Beer, Maura Cheney and Evaluna Carrillo made the drive from Centerville to participate in the Ogden Festival. They agreed that if a person is “open” to the festival’s message, all the dancing and color throwing can be cathartic.
“When we’re throwing the colors, we’re all one people,” Cheney said.
Carrillo liked learning about the history and significance of throwing colored powder.
“It’s in celebration of your freedom, and throwing color into the wind … is like getting rid of your problems,” she said. “That’s very cool to me.”
Katy and Chris Clark of South Ogden came to the festival with their children, ages 3, 5 and 13, because of their good memories from participating in last year’s event. They said it made for a fun family experience.
“It’s carefree,” Katy said. “It’s very reasonably priced, too.”
Das said in chatting with festival visitors, he heard from a lot of parents who wanted their kids to attend and teachers who wanted their students to attend, too. He said the Utah Krishnas brought their Holi festival to Ogden after receiving many requests.
“We talk about character, we talk about purposefulness, we talk about yoga and self discipline,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want their loved ones to hear messages like that?”
Contact Reporter Leia Larsen at 801-625-4289 or llarsen@standard.net. Follow her on Facebook.com/leiaoutside or on Twitter @LeiaLarsen.
