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Tens of thousands of people turned Liberty Avenue in Queens and a nearby park into a festival of color and music Sunday in celebration of a major Hindu holiday.
People of all ages lined the avenue to watch the annual Phagwah Parade, which has been organized by religious leaders in the Queens Guyanese community for more than 10 years. As they watched floats go by, people sprinkled white powder on friends and strangers while others used water-guns and make-shift squirt machines to spray colored water.
"I've been coming here many years and it gets bigger and bigger," said Vhansham Singh, 44, of South Ozone Park, as he watched floats with his three children and wife.
Pandit Tillack Seerattan, the religious leader at the Shri Devi Mandir in Jamaica, relaxed in Smokey Park with members after the parade.
"It's a festival of love among devotees of the world," Seerattan said.
The festival, also called Holi, is highly symbolic and based on an ancient Hindu story about the triumph of good over evil. The red powder and water thrown symbolize the blood of a tyrannical king who was ultimately destroyed by a fire.
The event drew several elected leaders from Queens as well as foreign dignitaries, including Basdeo Panday, the former prime minister of Trinidad. Organizers said the celebration attracted up to 50,000 people.
"It's great seeing all the Indian people coming together like this and having a good time," said Ricky Ram, a customer service manager from Jamaica who brought his wife, two kids and a niece.
Ram, who immigrated from Suriname, said he's attended the event since 1992 in order to show his heritage to his kids.
His niece, Tatiana Baksh, 11, interrupted to offer her take on the festivities.
"You come to the park and play with people you don't know, you get to dance with the music and everything," she said. "It's not just for one religion, it's for everybody."
One person noticably absent this year was Det. Rudy Prashad, the community affairs officer of the 102nd Precinct who is being investigated on allegations of kickbacks.
Prashad, a popular figure in the immigrant Guyanese community, is credited with bridging the gap among the immigrant Guyanese, Sikhs and longtime residents. He was a common presence at the parade.
"He's been missed dearly," Seerattan
said.
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