Nobody ever looked twice at the Catholic kids who showed up to school with painted foreheads for Ash Wednesday, Sushan Tripathee told us, but things were different for him.
"Throw some red over your forehead and see how different the looks are," he said, turning to his wife, Pratistha Sharma. "I feel like a lot of brown kids relate to that. Because how many times did you go and wash off – and then you'd hope that red powder didn't stain through your skin and now you're explaining that through the rest of the day?"
Pratistha Sharma watches as her husband, Sushan Tripathee, throws color at a camera during the Hindu Temple of the Rockies' annual Holi celebration, held for the first time at Centennial Center Park. March 30, 2024.
Tripathee grew up in Centennial, where his family's life revolved around the Hindu community that took root there in the 1980s. He's not particularly religious, but he was excited to join the Hindu Center of the Rockies' observance of Holi, the festival of colors, especially this year.
For the first time, organizers moved the celebration out of a temple parking lot and brought it into Centennial Center Park, where everyone could see them. Thousands of people, of all backgrounds, descended on the event to toss pigment, dance and eat together.
For Tripathee, it was a welcome sign that the broader region has embraced his culture.
"You have events like this, and people understand. Especially nowadays, I feel like my coworkers, everybody, they know about Holi," he said. "I'm glad that's slowly changing, and I want this to be part of that change."
The move was really a matter of practicality, but it still shows how the metro's Hindu community has grown.
Neal Walia, a temple member who's used his involvement in politics to better connect the community with local leaders, said it was mostly about capacity.
"This event, which used to be maybe 500 people, is now over 2,000, (up) to 3,000 on any given year. So to be able to accommodate parking, for the most part, that's why we decided to bring it across the street," he said.
Yes, the move was practical, but Walia and temple leadership also echoed Tripathee's hope for the new location.
"We’re really happy about the fact that we had to move here," he said. "If you look at the crowd, too, you're not just seeing South Asians. There's a plethora of different people here, and its just really cool to see people come to a location like this and just kind of share in the culture and the happiness."
Gigu Roy throws orange dust at a camera. Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Bayal Shah is absolutely covered in color. Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Richard Holt, the Centennial City Council member who presides over this district, said bringing Holi into the park was beneficial for the city, too. It was a family-friendly rave with no alcohol, and it made good use of a public space that Centennial spent millions on to prepare for occasions just like this. He's hoping Holi will become something people across the metro wait for every year.
"This is the coolest thing," Holt said, as colored powder exploded around him. "I would love for this to be a yearly thing, and bring everyone from the community."
