Holi Fest to color downtown Alexandria to benefit Children's Advocacy Network

Downtown Alexandria will once again be bursting with the colors of the 10th annual Holi Fest this Saturday (May 18) to benefit the Children’s Advocacy Network.

CAN advocates for abused and traumatized children by being their voice.

“Kids are very close to my heart. I feel like every kid needs a safe home and has to have a home,” said Amarjit Pillarisetti, former CAN board member and president of the Cenla India Association. Both organizations are sponsoring the event.

Holi Fest, or the Festival of Colors, will be held starting at 10 a.m. on the corner of 4th and Desoto Streets in downtown Alexandria near Tamp & Grind Coffee and Ugly Mug Marketing.

It will include a 4K walk/run at 11 a.m. for $40, Indian cuisine for $15, live music, dance performances, kids’ activities and crafts and the throwing of the colors which starts at 1:30 p.m. To register, sign up at rapidesscac.kindful.com

“All the funds, every single penny that we raise, goes to the Children’s Advocacy Network,” said Pillarisetti.

Since it is in support of children, it’s obviously family friendly, said Pillarisetti.

“It’s very similar to Cajun festivals only because they’re also family friendly. You come in, have fun, sing songs and the kids are running around,” she said. “And I think it's really wonderful in that way.”

Holi Fest originated in Northern India about 3,000 years ago and traditionally marks good triumphing over evil. It also celebrates the arrival of spring.

During Holi Fest, participants thrown colored powder at each other to celebrate.

"Cenla is a multicultural society,” said said Pillarisetti. “And we get to bring people together under one sky. And let them throw colors, and when they throw colors, there's no white, Black, rich, poor. They're all gone. And that is really the main theme behind this - unity and diversity.”

The colors have meaning. Blue represents the sky, ocean and color of the gods. Green represents nature and the start of new beginnings. Red is for love, passion and fertility. Yellow means happiness, meditation and peace. Orange is the energy color and color of the sun. Purple represents magic and mystery.

The colored powders are free and always have been and always will be, said Pillarisetti. She and her husband bought the colors in the past but this year, the funds to purchase them came from an anonymous donor.

Aside from Tamp & Grind and the Cenla Indian Association, others who are making the event possible include the City of Alexandria, Ugly Mug Marketing and a host of others who are donating funds, time or talent, said Pillarisetti.

When it first started, Holi Fest was new, different and not a lot of people hadn’t experienced something like this before, explained Tamp & Grind owner Amanda Phillips.

"In recent years color runs have become very popular, but that's not the same as Holi necessarily,” she said. “We've added an element like that to Holi so that we can help support CAN. But the event itself is unique in our area and that makes it special and exciting.”

Now, it has become one of Alexandria's more popular events.

Eddie Lachney, Ronnie Crews and Phillips’ husband, the late Jeff Phillips, held the first Holi Fest in front of Tamp & Grind Coffee back in 2012, said Pillarisetti.

In 2013, they asked Pillarisetti if the Cenla Indian Association wanted to be involved and they did. Later on, Pillarisetti who was also a CAN board member, brought up the idea of Holi Fest being a fundraiser for the non-profit. It was an idea embraced by CAN’s former executive director Wade Bond, Lachney, Crews and the Phillips. The pandemic halted the event for two years.

“Tamp & Grind has always been a place where we have community members from all walks of life, and it's wonderful to have an event that sort of exemplifies that,” said  Phillips. “People look forward to it all year long and get really excited about it.”

“I feel personally that this is the right corner to do it here because when this place started, it was like bringing different people here together,” said Pillarisetti.

Aside from Tamp & Grind and the Cenla Indian Association, others who are making the event possible include the City of Alexandria, Ugly Mug Marketing and a host of others, said Pillarisetti.

“I just love that it does open our community's eyes to other cultures,” said Phillips.

Central Louisiana is a multicultural community, said Pillarisetti.

“Nowadays, with the way the world is going, wouldn't it be nice that we understand each other?” said Pillarisetti, adding that she thinks it a great festival from which people can learn peace and equality.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Children's Advocacy Network benefits from Holi Fest fundraiser