Erbil holds first color festival

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A youth group is holding Erbil’s first color festival on Friday evening in Sami Abdulrahman Park. The organizers expect as many as 6,000 people will take part.
 
The event kicked off at 4 pm local time. The organizers have asked the festival goers to wear white dresses or T-shirts.
 
Though the event is mainly about the color festival, it will also include Kurdish and western dancing and live music, Avan Sherzad, an organizer told Rudaw on Friday.
 
She said that they will release 3,000 balloons, and raise 3,000 flags of Kurdistan. The event takes place as the Kurdistan Region is scheduled to hold an independence referendum in 10 days.
 
Sherzad said their volunteer group with members across the Kurdistan Region wanted to put the Kurdistan Region on the map through the festival of colours.
 
She said that they will provide the attendees red, white, green and yellow colored powders matching the four colors of the Kurdistan Region. The Kurdish flag is also called the colourful flag by Kurds.

 

 
WATCH: The festival gets underway

 

The festival goers have to purchase a ticket for 5,000 Iraqi dinars ($4) to take part in the event. The organizers say they tickets will be available at the park.
 
 “The purpose of this event is to promote love, multiculturalism and unity of the diverse groups in the community (Kurdistan),” explained the organizers.
 
Rudaw is a media sponsor of the event.