Color Fights

One of the most beloved summer traditions is the color fights. In the park in the center of town, in the summer when the days are long and the nights are warm, folks from all over the county gather on the first Wednesday evening of each summer month (May, June, July, and August) to participate in color fights. Everyone gets together and wears a shirt that they either want to turn into something colorful or don't mind getting ruined (depends on how artistic of a person you are) and gets eggs of Holi powder to throw at one another. Usually people wear plain white or plain black shirts. A group of teenagers has dubbed themselves "the color warriors" and they each have a pair of black jeans that they wear to every single color fight they go to. Each time they participate, their jeans get coated in even more colors than were there to begin with. It's organized by a local faith sharing group that meets in the basement of the library, including people of all different faiths and backgrounds. They have competitions of whose color eggs are the best-decorated: the Catholic Church, the Temple, the affirming Protestant church, the local mosque, etc. [Note: I have some more research and work to do on the different faiths that exist in this region; this will be updated eventually.] There are eggs filled with all different colors of powder, and participants divide themselves into teams based on which color they would like to throw. Nobody "wins," per se, but there is always a friendly debate over which group's color was the most widely spread. The August color fight, since it is usually the hottest of the summer nights, is often a tie-dye water balloon fight rather than throwing colored powder at one another. This still involves each "team" being in charge of one color, which helps prevent the dye from mixing into various shades of brown. Regardless of the organizers, everyone is welcomed with open arms. The event is of course frequented by members of the LGBTQ+ community, and there are always a few folks whose main objective is to get hit with as many colors as they can and get as close as possible to dyeing their clothing rainbow. If you really want to get your clothes dyed, it's tradition to run through the sprinklers before the color fight begins and get yourself soaked to the bone; wet fabric absorbs dye better. At the end of the night, you can rinse yourself off with the freezing cold hose water so your hair won't be tracking color everywhere you go. Everyone leaves laughing and talking about their greatest moment of glory in that night's color battle. Emberly, one of the main characters in my stories, has been going to the color fights since forever and keeps all the shirts she has dyed from them. Eventually, she sews them together into a quilt. She wraps up in it on bad nights. The memories steeped into the fabric in rainbow splatters bring a nostalgia and a comfort that few other things can give.

History

The color fights were started about a decade back by a group of college graduates who lived in the area. The friends had all joined the same faith-sharing group, and at one of the meetings, somebody suggested a color run as a fundraiser idea. After a couple of years of having the color run, their usual route was unavailable due to construction in the area. Ideas were thrown out and suggestions given, and it was decided that the next best place to hold this event was in the park. And then, somebody had the bright idea of making it a color fight, like a water balloon fight, rather than a run. That would take less staff to plan and execute it, after all. The first color fight was a huge success, and it has been a town tradition ever since. Most of those who originally started it have moved on to further things, but some of them always come back to attend at least one of the color fights every year.

Components and tools

The required items are, of course, white clothing (any clothing; ideally cotton, because it absorbs dye the easiest) and eggs or other throw-able items filled with Holi powder. Sometimes, the Holi powder is replaced with water guns, water balloons, and tie-dye.