Man, I love the Holi Festival. It is probably one of the coolest vibes you can experience here in Utah. The whole place is filled with love and music.
This is the third time we have gone to the Holi Festival and it is amazing every time we go. It is just what we need to recharge.
It is nice to go and see people outside enjoying their time with friends and family. This whole pandemic has really messed people up mentally, and events like this really help people to get back to some sort of normal.
I am not sure how "normal" things will be moving forward, but while we were here, it was a nice escape from everything that has been going on around the world lately and just be in the moment.
The event is held at the Shri Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah. The location is pretty awesome and is surrounded by mountains. I really like the time of year that this event is held because it is just starting to get warm again and the mountains in the distance still have a lot of snow on them.
One thing that people always ask me about when I am at this event is how I keep my camera clean. Well, the long story is, there is no way to keep it clean. I have just accepted the fact that my camera will get really dusty and that I will need to spend some time giving it a good cleaning later.
There were a few times where people threw colors and they hit right on my camera body, but other than that, it wasn't too bad. Luckily my camera and lenses are weatherproof and do a really good job keeping the dust out.
This little dude was having the time of his life meeting so many people. I couldn't imagine bringing my dogs to something like this. Titus would be covered in colors and it would be impossible to get him clean again. Harley would most likely try and eat all of the dust and get sick.
One thing that I really like about this celebration as well is that there are so many people from all different backgrounds that attend. In Utah, there really is no diversity and it is mainly white people, so it is cool to see people from all different backgrounds coming together for these events and creating memories with their friends and loved ones.
The Holi Festival here in Utah is the largest celebration of Holi in the United States. I can't wait until my wife and I are able to travel the world again because India is going to be one of our first destinations and we would love to go during Holi.
At the top of every hour, they do a color throw, which is basically everyone gathering and facing the stage. Then they do a count down and everyone throws their colors up in the air at the same time.
I snuck up on the stage during one of the color throws and it was pretty amazing to see how many people were there.
Later on in the day, I found out that you needed to buy a VIP pass and get a cool wristband to get up on the stage, but I guess since I had a real nice camera, I looked official like I was part of the celebration or something, so no one questioned me going up and getting right behind the announcer as he was counting down.
After they count down and everyone is throwing their colors, the band starts playing again and everyone starts dancing again and having a great time.
It was about this point in time that I realized I needed to back up because the people on the stage were throwing colors as well and I was getting covered.
But at least I was able to get a few really good shots because the dust was too thick to see through.
These dancers were getting ready to go out and teach the crowd some cool dance moves.
The air got so thick with dust after the color throw. I haven't been in the middle of the audience during it and I bet it is pretty awesome. Next year, I am going to have to go and leave my nice camera at home so I can just get in the middle of everything and not have to worry so much about my camera.
The Holi Festival is an event that my family looks forward to each year and I am glad that we were able to make it this year. It has been a really tough year for us and I am sure you as well. It is nice to have some sort of normalcy for a while. I just hope that it lasts and we don't go backwards with Covid and everything else going on in the world.
Thanks for taking the time to check out my post and look at the pictures. I hope that you enjoyed them. If you are in Utah and haven't been to the Holi Festival, you should really try and make it out there next year. You won't regret it. It is an amazing time.
