Colored Powders Will Fly Sunday as Pasadena Temple Celebrates Joyous Hindu Festival of Spring

The Hindu Temple and Heritage Foundation will fill Victory Park with color Sunday when it holds “Holi Hungama,” a free celebration of the Hindu Festival of Colors featuring Indian food, a live DJ, and colored powders for sale.

The event, scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the park at 2575 Paloma St., marks the Pasadena-based nonprofit’s annual observance of Holi, a Hindu spring festival that celebrates the arrival of warmer weather and the triumph of good over evil. Holi, which officially fell on March 3-4 this year, is considered the second-largest celebration on the Hindu calendar after Diwali.

“Holi, the festival of colors, symbolizes the arrival of spring, the beginning of new life,” Shubhshree Bhargava, the temple’s Holi event organizer, said in a 2025 interview with Pasadena Now.

Participants traditionally throw brightly colored powders, known as gulal, at one another.

Entry and parking are free. Food will be offered by Bhanu’s Indian Cuisine, a San Gabriel restaurant, with shaved ice from Kona Ice also available, a flyer states. Both food and colored powders will be for sale.

Organizers suggested attendees to wear white clothing they don’t mind staining, according to prior Pasadena Now reporting.

HTHF, a nonprofit that manages the Pasadena Hindu Temple at 676 S. Rosemead Blvd., has held its Holi Hungama at Victory Park since at least 2023, when the celebration returned after a three-year pandemic hiatus.

The temple typically holds a dual celebration each year: religious observances, including a Holika Dahan bonfire, at the temple itself, followed by the larger community event at the park. The local organization traces its origins to 1986, when it began as a small group in a Southern California living room. The temple was incorporated in 1998.

In 2025, Pasadena’s Indian American community comprises approximately 4,200 residents, or about 3.1% of the city’s population.

The event has drawn participation from beyond the Indian American community, according to organizers. Bhargava said in a November 2024 interview that at least half of the crowd at the 2024 Holi celebration was non-Indian.

“Holi symbolizes love, unity and friendship,” Bhargava said in a 2025 interview. “On this holiday people from all races, cultures, ethnicities and genders come together to have a good time.”

For more information, contact Shubhshree Bhargava at (415) 216-7075, Pt. Jagdish Rajgor at (626) 679-8777, or Dr. Manju Kumar at (626) 533-9709.

“These events are open to everyone,” Bhargava said. “We would love for people to come and see — be a part of this. It’s a beautiful event.”