‘Color Me Rad’ turns a cold crowd rosy in St. George; Photo Gallery

Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – The City of St. George hosted the thirty-first location on the nationwide route of the Color Me Rad 5K Tour, and had an impressive attendance.

Hundreds of people turned out to the race Saturday at the old St. George Airport, so many people that some observed the St. George police began turning people away due to the limited parking and access. Capt. Scott Staley later said that people were not turned away but may have been directed to a different parking or access area.

Color Me Rad is a combination of a street race and a color festival, complete with packets of cornstarch-based, colored powder throw on runners, and anyone else within range. Organizers use an average of 5,000 pounds of the colored powder for each race location.

Participants were met with the surprisingly cold weather for St. George with a high of only 50 degrees for the day, and the wind wasn’t much help either. However, while some parts of the St. George area were even powdered with snow flurries, the Color Me Rad race progressed and the weather became more bearable, with the energy and excitement of the crowd combining with flurries of color to bring a rosy distraction from the weather.

Organizers of the race considered this location a great success, and will continue the tour on 17 Nov. in Las Vegas.

See our preview story for the Color Me Rad 5K here.

Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News
Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News
Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News
Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News
Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News
Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News
Color Me Rad 5K, St. George, Utah, Nov. 10, 2012 | Photo by Chris Caldwell, St. George News

Ed. Note:  Nov. 12, 2012, 3:58 p.m. Updated with clarification from St. George Police Department Capt. Scott Staley that the department did not turn people away, but may have directed people to a different parking or access area.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2012, all rights reserved.

 

 

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7 Comments

  • Scott Staley (Captain - St Gerorge Police Dept. November 12, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    I noted in your artcile that you claimed the St. George Police Department turned people away from this event. That is not a true statement. People may have been directed to a different parking or access area, but they were not turned away.

    • Avatar photo Joyce Kuzmanic November 12, 2012 at 3:53 pm

      Thank you Captain, I’ll note that in the article by update.

  • Matt Sevald November 12, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    It amazes me how people in an area noted for such intolerance are willing to repurpose the customs of another religion/culture holiday for their own fun. Why not just celebrate Holi for Holi’s sake instead of cheapening it by stealing some of the fun aspects without acknowledging where the tradition originates?
    .
    Their website states” What is the “color” in Color Me Rad?

    You’re probably asking yourselves, “Is this really color being thrown at us or are the rainbows we’re seeing just God’s signal that it’ll never flood again?”

    It would be most honest to say “we’re going to have a run and throw tinctured powders at you because we like the idea of the silliness, but we’re afraid of the “pagan” and “foreign” ideas associated with it, so we’re going to pretend like we made up this fun thing, and pass it along to you, for a nominal fee, of course.”

  • Gunther November 12, 2012 at 9:14 pm

    @Matt- What was that all about? Just have fun. They do this all over the country.

    • Matt Sevald November 13, 2012 at 11:27 am

      Indeed they do, and it reeks of the ‘ugly american’ stereotype every single time when organizers pass this color thing off as something they invented. I’ve no qualms with the activity – it looks fun as all get out; a real good time, despite the inhalation hazards, but the fact is that this is ‘borrowed’ (to use a less-charged word) from Hindu religious traditions without any credit. Ignorant white suburbanites should be aware of what they are doing, particularly those who turn their noses up at anything different from how they were raised like the majority of folks in southern Utah do.

      An honest assessment of the activity from the organizers would be a breath of fresh air in this stuffy climate.

      • Alvin November 13, 2012 at 1:49 pm

        There you go again. Too much thought put into such a simple event. Ha, makes me laugh too. Thanks for the chuckle

  • ken November 13, 2012 at 10:49 am

    I would have said attendance was in the thousands not the hundreds. My wife and daughter went and had a great time.

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