CBC Thunder Bay

Prince Arthur's Landing in Thunder Bay, Ont., was a colourful place on Sunday.

That evening marked the annual Festival of Colours, which brought hundreds of people to sample Indian cuisine, and participate in the traditional colour throws.

"The colour signifies throwing the worries into the wind, and making life stress free, happy, joyful," Festival of Colours organizer Prashant Jani said. "And that's what we see."

"If you come at the festival time, you'll see lots of people jumping, dancing, and you'll see a big smile on everybody's face," he said. "I think that's a blessing."

Sunday was the first in-person Festival of Colours in a few years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the festival did take place, but it was a "hybrid drive-in event" held at the CLE grounds due to restrictions on gathering sizes, Jani said).

"It makes my heart very joyful," Jani said of seeing the crowd of people gathered at the marina. "We have been hoping for this for a long time. I know we had all the difficult times during COVID, so I think this festival will be like a stress buster for all of us and bring us back to the normal life."

Among the attendees was Kristi Barras, who was there with her family.

L-R Jake Koski, Ashley Lester, Kristi Barras, Eva Barras, Lexus Walraad and Mya Walraad were among the hundreds of people who attended Sunday's festival. (Kris Ketonen/CBC)

Barras said they'd been attending the Thunder Bay festival since the first one was held 13 years ago. This year, however, was special, as it was the first festival Barras's granddaughter, Eva, attended.

"I think for us, it's just getting together as a family, enjoying being outside, but also celebrating the different cultures we have here in Thunder Bay," Barras said. "I work at a daycare. We have many children from different backgrounds, so it's teaching Eva how to live in a world where there are so many different people, and embrace everything that's around her."

The festival saw colour throws happen every 30 minutes, with the crowd throwing non-toxic, plant-based powders of various colours — including blue, green, purple, orange, and yellow — into the air.

The colours themselves, Jani said, are a tradition that goes back thousands of years in India.

"The colours represent different positive aspects of life, like love, kindness, compassion, gratitude, thankfulness," he said. "When we throw the colours on our body parts, or when we throw colours on somebody else, which means that we are exchanging the positive emotions with each other."

The festival saw people throw colours in the air every 30 minutes. (Kris Ketonen/CBC)

Volunteer Pruthvi Punjabi said Sunday was his first full Festival of Colours since he came to Thunder Bay in 2019 to study at Confederation College.

"This Festival of Colours ... is the celebration of life, basically, like spreading happiness, spreading joy in forms of colours," he said. "It's just a visual representation of throwing your worries away and spreading joy, getting to meet new people, getting to meet the old ones that you know but haven't been in contact for a few months or maybe a year or so."

"Just celebrate life."

Punjabi said he was helping out wherever he was needed, including helping set up tents and the stage.

"We we should help however we can," he said. "And this is not for profit. This is for each one of us, so that we can come here, enjoy and have a good time, get to know more people, socialize more."

"It wasn't a decision that I had to make. It was natural that I had to come and help."