The Oak Park High School Hindu Youth for Unity, Virtues and Action Club will be hosting a Holi celebration on Saturday, March 16 in Moorpark to celebrate the Indian festival of colors.

The Hindu YUVA Club has been collaborating with Moorpark High School’s Hindu YUVA Club and Santa Susana High School’s Sitaara Desi Club since early January to plan the event.

“We’re serving authentic Indian food, and we’re getting a DJ and a dhol player, which is a traditional Indian instrument,” club president Veda Bollapalli said.

Holi is a two day festival to celebrate the beginning of spring and the triumph of good over evil spirits. Colors are thrown either in powdered form or squirted through water guns. 

“Our event is going to be a water Holi to mimic the authenticity of the festival as celebrated in India,” Bollapalli said.

The event was organized entirely by the students, who wanted to share their culture and festivities with all teens in Ventura County.

“The goal of the event is to spread cultural awareness and to instill pride about the beautiful celebrations of India to the first generation teens in our area,” Bollapalli said. “Hopefully everyone that comes gets a taste of how their parents and grandparents have played Holi growing up.”

The student organizers have created flyers and booked out a venue for the event, and they are working with excitement to prepare for the upcoming event.

“My hope is that everything goes smoothly because it is the first Indian cultural teen-organized event in our area,” Bollapalli said. “Hopefully, everyone will enjoy coming to more events in the future as well.” 

For more information on times, location and how to purchase tickets, please see the flyer.