Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19 witnessed two mega Holi celebratory events hosted in Auckland. The equally impressive shows Humm FM and Waitakere Indian Association Holi gave a chance to thousands of multicultural New Zealanders an escape into the world of colours and music.
The Waitakere Indian Association of West Auckland organised a noon to evening Holi event on Sunday, March 19 at the Trust Arena, in Henderson which saw a footfall of more than 4,000 visitors from different communities in Auckland.
The Holi event was held with the focus to get everyone to celebrate the festival of colours irrespective of their ethnicity and religion. A good number of visitors at the event belong to the Pakeha, Samoan, Maori, Fijian and Kiwi-Indian community.
The event was attended by Labour Party Leader Andrew Little who shared his enthusiasm for the festival of colours.
The celebrations was also attended by Henderson-Massey Local Board member Shane Henderson, National List MPs Alfred Ngaro, Kanwaljit Bakshi, Melissa Lee, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, NZ First List MP Mahesh Bindra, MP for Te Atatu Phil Twyford, Mt Roskill MP Michael Wood, Linda Cooper, one of the Councillors for the Waitakere Ward of Auckland Council, Labour Party candidate for Maungakekei Priyanca Radhakrishnan, and members from Nepal & Sri Lanka Ministry of External Affairs among others.
The young crowd jumped on to the dance floor non-stop from afternoon until the event concluded at 6.30 p.m. Others drenched in colours joined the food section to serve their taste buds with delicious Indian snacks and fruit drinks.
DJs from Tarana Radio of Auckland played a mix of Bollywood, Hollywood, Punjabi and trance music to keep the visitors glued to the dancefloor. Ella Kumar, a member of the Puketapapa Local Board also performed at the early hours of the event.
The Holi celebrations for the Indian community of Auckland concluded with the Waitakere Indian Association Holi that trended on social media as #WIAHOLI2017.