MELA will celebrate Indian culture, food and talent

In English, it’s a “gathering,” or a “meeting” or a “fair.” In Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, it’s a “mela,” and it’s coming to Lititz Springs Park on Saturday, May 31, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

The Indian Organization of Lancaster County, founded in 2007, hosted an Indian arts festival in March of this year at the Ware Center in downtown Lancaster. The enthusiastic reception for that event led to planning for the Lititz Springs Park MELA, according to Deepa Balepur, one of the event’s organizers.

The activities, pictured here, will include henna tattooing, a fashion show featuring Indian styles, face painting with traditional Indian designs, and the very colorful art of rangoli, which uses flower petals, colored sand, rice and other everyday materials to create colorful designs.

In addition to the fashion show, there’ll be food, music, a talent show (think Bollywood), yoga classes and other activities.

The Lititz MELA is open to all, according to Balepur, but the organizers are hoping to get an idea of the number of people planning to come. Balepur said visitors can leave an e-mail with the number of people in their party at admin@iolcpa.org.

MELA, a festival celebrating the culture of India, will take place in Lititz Springs Park on May 31 at 3:30 p.m. Experience henna body painting, artistic face painting, an Indian fashion show and rangoli — artwork using colorful flower petals, rice and other everyday materials. Food will be served.