13th annual Lotus Fest blooms again

Bloomington resident Jitka Horne said she lost count of all the faces she painted Saturday at Lotus in the Park. Horne specializes in animal pictures, mainly "kitties." When asked about the strangest thing she has painted, Horne said she painted six or seven dragons and one boy wanted flames up both his arms.\n"Nothing is too weird -- that is what is nice and fun about this," she said.\nFor the thirteenth annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, "nothing too weird" was the unofficial theme.\nThe festivities kicked off Thursday night with opening announcements and a concert by Väsen, a Swedish acoustic modern band at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Lotus Festival executive director Lee Williams explained that he has been trying to work with Bloomington to get a street named after the band. As he said this, a green street sign descended from the ceiling.\n"For tonight only, this stage is Väsen St.," Williams said.\nFriday's activities started at 5 p.m. with a parade around the courthouse square. Stilt dancer Sogbety Diomande lead the procession as well as Saturday's parade. His crew of West African drummers had everyone bouncing up and down, and multi-colored banners snapped in the wind. Almost everyone's jaw dropped when he threw his head back to shriek toward the sky and swung his leg into the air. The evening showcases started at 7 p.m. with six stages of musical performances.\nSaturday afternoon, Third Street Park hosted hundreds of people enjoying the crisp weather and the free way to participate in the Lotus activities. The family-friendly Lotus in the Park is in its second year. Both children and adults painted banners and made noisemakers and hats to wear in the parade while listening to several acts that performed on the Third St. stage.\nThe procession left the park at about 5:30 p.m. and marched to festival headquarters on Kirkwood Ave. Traffic literally stopped as the festival-goers slowly meandered through intersections and paused to watch Diomande's eerie dance. Some were disappointed by the crowd's apparent shock, however. \n"I wish the crowd was more crazy," Brianna Raatz, a Hanover College junior commented. "The more you put in, the more you get out."\nA mixed group of high school--age people and adults made up the crowd with a less represented college crowd, which one high school-aged girl said was because people her age grew up with Lotus Festival, and college students did not want to pay $30 for a night of entertainment.\nAnother night of evening showcases ran from 7 p.m. to midnight. "Rockin' klezmer" music, traditional Irish music and Brazilian choral music were just a few options presented to the audience.\nThe musical performances continued Sunday afternoon with special guest Issa introducing Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo to a nearly full Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Sunday was a chance to see numerous shows for $5 and catch any performers festival-goers had missed throughout the weekend. Lhamo's spiritual performance had audience members in tears.\n"It made me cry," Bloomington resident Mona Bagla said. "It reminded me of being back home in India"