Organisers of an Indian festival celebrated publicly for the first time in Hastings believe there were twin impacts from the Christchurch mosques tragedy.
Sonal Chauhan, who came to New Zealand from Fiji seven years ago and lives in Hastings, said there were people who came to the Hindu Holi spring-season festival celebration to show their support for the community in the wake of the shootings in the South Island.
But she said there may also have been people who stayed away because of fear caused by the horror.
"We held a minute's silence to show our respects, because we didn't want people to think we were holding the festival out of disrepect," she said. "Everyone was very happy to be there."
It was a colourful affair, Holi being typified by the celebration of colours associated with springtime, along with the "chucking" water at each other.