Colors will fly during first Holi Mela at DuPage fairgrounds

This year in DuPage County, spring will arrive with flying colors - literally.

The Federation of Indian Associations, a conglomerate of roughly 70 Chicago-area community groups, is hosting Holi Mela: Festival of Color on Saturday, March 21, at the DuPage County Fairgrounds.

Holi, often called the Festival of Color, originated in India as an ancient Hindu religious festival. Today, it has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well communities outside Asia. (The word "mela" means "fair," and traditionally marks the last day of the festival, which runs for seven days in certain parts of India.)

The event's trademark is a free-for-all carnival of colors, where participants play, chase and color each other with dry powder and colored water. The Wheaton event will offer free colors to all participants and also will feature a DJ, Indian music and cultural performances, and children's activities throughout the day.

Food and merchandise vendors will participate, selling Indian food, jewelry, dresses and more.

This is the first year the Federation of Indian Associations has hosted a Holi Mela and organizers expect up to 1,500 people.

Federation Vice President Moon Khan said the group chose to organize the event on a large scale in an effort to bring the suburban Indian community together, regardless of whether they are Hindu.

"Thousands of Indian Americans live in DuPage County," he said. "Most of the time, Holi events are organized in religious settings and on a small scale. However, Indians have followings in all the major world religions. So our organization decided to organize Holi as a cultural festival of India, where everybody can participate and enjoy, and even non-Indians can also see the process of this festival."

Kahn added that organizers have been planning this event since the start of the year, and several local officials in the Indian community and beyond are slated to attend.

Betting on the success of the Holi Mela, the federation already is organizing a mid-August celebration to mark India's Independence Day, which falls on Aug. 15, though the location is not set.

"This will be another eye-popping event," Kahn said.