Laughter and screams were heard at Paul Kane High School parking lot as excited students ducked under clouds of flying coloured powder.
This was no ordinary school day. It was the launch of the second annual Amplify Festival and students were pelting each other in powder shades of royal blue, lemon yellow, neon red and grass green.
The spicy powder fight is part of guerilla marketing technique the St. Albert Amplify Festival Advisory Committee has embraced to raise awareness about the upcoming Oct. 16 to 17 youth festival.
The idea was adopted from the Color Me Rad Race that in turn was borrowed from Holi, a Hindu religious spring festival where participants chase and tint each other with dry powder and coloured water.
“It’s odd, off-the-wall unexpected stuff. This is fun. It’s not a traditional marketing tool and gets the attention of people,” said Amplify youth adviser Kathleen Bell.
This year’s theme is Inspiration Untamed and the colourful powders thrown in the air, much to the delight of students that came out, were only part of the celebrations.
The committee, composed of 18 youth from 14 to 22 years, announced the first phase of cultural activities and workshops.
Once again held at the Enjoy Centre, the festival promises to be a lush rainforest of creative expression in the visual arts, dance, music, film, media arts and poetry.
In a revamp of the inaugural festival, the Moonflower Room will host a free art exhibit and an acoustic stage as well as a collective origami project or mural.
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is transporting its instrument petting zoo to the site on Saturday, a broad assortment ranging from an accordion to zither.
Heritage Museé will show students how to tie-dye T-shirts and Famoso Pizza is volunteering its services to teach a pizza dough making class.
“Pizza making was one of the most popular last year. We went through a lot of dough.”
A barista is even dropping by to show kids the fundamentals of latte art. It is the art of decorating a beverage with leaves, hearts and other cute designs.
A new workshop this year includes Poi 101, a super cool Maori art that draws techniques from dancing, martial arts and flame throwing.
Additional first-time workshops range from discovering the art of gory Halloween makeup and contemporary dance to hip-hop dance and documentary filmmaking.
Returning from last year is the ever-popular henna body art and jewelry making.
“At night we’ll have concerts and during the daytime having a big room to entertain and explore will make a big difference.”
At present, organizers are searching for youth singer/musicians and visual artists excited about showing their art at the festival. For musicians, there are two stages to perform on. Application deadline is Monday, July 13.
The city is also eager to showcase the best young artists around town. The visual arts deadline is one week later on July. 20.
Complete information is available at stalbert.ca/experience/amplify-festival/.
