“Happy Holi!”
If you heard those words Saturday by the Riverwalk’s Grand Pavilion, chances are they were followed by a smiling person showering you with a cloud of colorful powder.
Chances are, you smiled back.
On a damp day in which the sun made an occasional, welcomed appearance, hundreds of people — and some with furry friends — gathered at the park for the annual Festival of Colors, inspired by the ancient Hindu festival to mark the start of the spring.
“Everyone that’s here is happy,” said Nancy Castner, an event volunteer from Westmont. “When you look around, it’s a group of happy people.”
All around, gatherers joyously threw clouds of powder in the air, on themselves and their neighbors, turning an overcast morning into a sea of purple, pink, green, orange, red, yellow and blue.
“I love your colors!” Castner told a couple of women who seemed to be sprinkled with every color in the spectrum. “You are a walking rainbow.”
The Festival of Colors annually brings as many as a few thousand people to downtown Naperville to revel in the renewal of the season. In its 12th year, the event also basks in the culture of India, with traditional food, dancing and music.
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“We are celebrating spring after a long winter,” festival organizer Sarita Sharma said. “The Holi festival is full of colors, so we spread happiness, joy, peace and harmony with people. People are free to come and play with colors with each other so that creates some kind of harmony and friendship and community.”
Castner said tossing powder into the air symbolizes rebirth in another sense: “You take any issues or problems and throw them out into the wind.”
As the festival got underway, Emerson Rinaldi, of Lombard, and his sons, Nick and Harper, splashed one another with powder, laughing and grinning ear to ear.
“We want to try new things,” Emerson said. “I wanted to teach them about other cultures, and it looked fun.”
Nearby, the Maka family, of Naperville, powdered themselves with a potpourri of pink, yellow, blue and orange.
“I like to get messy, and I like to get colorful,” 9-year-old Gaia Maka said.
“You get to get dirty, and you get to get washed after,” added her sister, Soleil, 5.
Sue Diomedes, of St. Charles, said she comes to the event for the “peace and love and a good vibe.”
“It’s a good celebration. It’s fun,” said Amy Vogt, as she and her kids and a friend chased one another amid colorful puffs of powder. “It’s about time we have these celebrations again, right?”
Giles Bruce is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.