On April 29, the annual Holi festival took place near the colonnade and on the southern portion of the quad.

Each year, the Indian Student Organization (ISO), Indian Student Association for Cultural Activities (ISO-C), and the Indian Dance Organization (IDO), as well as other partnering organizations, collaborate to bring Holi to campus to celebrate spring.

Students, staff, faculty, and community members were all welcome to participate and join in on this spring’s Holi festival. The event began at approximately 11:30 a.m. at the south end of the quad and ended at about 4 p.m.

The organizers began the celebration by feeding the participants Indian cuisine as well as Papa John’s pizza.

There were several dance performances by the IDO for viewers and participants to watch. The performances used popular native Indian music. Between each performance the emcee of the event, Vishal Patel, allowed students to sing while students, staff, and faculty conversed among themselves.

After all announcements and performances, the main event began. Participants were able to throw the organic colors that were located in cardboard boxes at one another.

The Holi festival brings in the new spring season by having participants throw organic color at one another. The organizations suggested that whoever participates should wear white in order to see every color that is thrown on them.

Holi, also known as the Festival of Color, originates from legends and aims to inspire people to do good.

The south end of the quad was filled with colors of red, blue, green, purple, yellow, and many more. Participants’ clothes and hair were covered in many different colors. Participants threw the color while saying “Happy Holi” to each other.

The organic color managed to color one sidewalk pink after the event.

Patel, an MIS graduate student and the event’s emcee, said this Holi event was his last one at UIS.

“This Holi event was really awesome. This was my last Holi event. There is a spring session in Indian and everyone is very happy about this event. We throw colors on each other to ensure their joy and their happiness and shout ‘Happy Holi,’” Patel said.

Meanwhile, UIS sophomore and social work major Shamira Quiñones, participated in her very first Holi festival. Quiñones said, “It was so much fun, I was excited. I was on my way [to] the library, so when I heard about this, I just said, ‘I’m going to do it’ and I don’t regret it at all.”

“Holi, is about loving and sharing not just with family and friends but with everyone within the community,” Prerna Khullar, a graduate MBA student said.  “The festival has great religious significance, but personally I think it is a celebration of “Us” as people, a simple yearly reminder of the good that still thrives within each of us. “