The sun was shining and the weather was perfect for an outdoor celebration last week when the Mesa College campus celebrated the annual Festival of Colors.

The two-day festival, which has been a long-time Mesa tradition, began on April 10th.

If you were on campus either day, you couldn’t miss the booths, the balloons and the smell of kettle corn. Students took a break between classes and were treated to food, entertainment and shopping.

One of the entertainment highlights was the staff and faculty talent show on April 11.

A fashion show featured traditional African dress from various regions of the continent. There was also a performance of poems, spoken word and song by professor Starla Lewis and other faculty and staff as well as Lewis’s daughters.

Adjunct counselor Nicole Jones sang a couple of Whitney Houston tunes, and her performance got rave reviews from audience members.

Another crowd pleaser was the Mariachi band, Mariachi San Marcos, which was joined on stage by a couple of Mesa College staff members.

The first Festival of Colors took place about 20 years ago.

“Constance started it. She wanted to have something in the spring to bring the students together to celebrate diversity and celebrate spring,” Mesa College Public Information Officer Lina Heil said.

Heil refers to Dr. Constance Carroll, the former Mesa College president. Back then, Carroll, along with the staff, decided to create a campus event to promote awareness of cultural and ethnic diversity. And thus, the Festival of Colors was born.

“This event has widespread support and is one of the most popular activities of the school year,” said Adela Jacobson, director of EOPS and Student Support Services.

Mesa students weren’t the only ones enjoying the festivities. A student group from Clairemont High School and residents from around the area were also in attendance.

The kids really stole the show with their performances, including a Kung Fu demonstration by the Golden Dragon Kung Fu School, during which they got the chance to show off their martial arts abilities and skills.

The second day of the festival’s schedule was packed. African Unity performed an African dance and drum routine. They were followed by Vincent West, the son of a Mesa faculty member, who performed solo on the Scottish bagpipes.

Then the ladies got top billing in the afternoon. First, the SDSU Ballet Folklorico performed traditional dances from the Jalisco and Sonora regions of Mexico. Later, the Rose Academy of Irish Dance took to the stage with reels and slip jigs.

Mesa’s own James Romeo, Director of Instrumental Music, along with the Mesa College Concert Jazz band performed a few selections for the crowd, including one of Duke Ellington’s hits to close out the program on Tuesday afternoon.

Mesa student, Silver Julius brought some children from a community group she works with to perform hip-hop for the audience on Wednesday morning.

The other ethnic dance performances included Chinese lion dancers, Vietnamese dancers, and the Red Warrior Pow-Wow Drum.

Although the whole program ran smoothly to the casual observer, there were some last-minute cancellations and other challenges.

The process may seem simple, but Thuan Le, one of the organizers, will tell you it’s a lot of work. She is on the committee of people whose job it is to “look for different acts from around the community and bring them to campus.”

This year the committee only had four weeks to coordinate all the events and involved parties.

In addition to the entertainment, vendors sold a wide variety of culturally diverse products, from Chinese calligraphy souvenir cards and South American clothes and accessories, to jewelry and posters.

The Festival of Colors wrapped up on April 11, with participants and organizers declaring the event a success and looking forward to next year.