The problem with celebrating Songkran, the Thai New Year, in Chicago is that it’s too cold for a water fight in mid-April. One of the popular features of Songkran in Bangkok originated as a ceremony offering blessings to your elders by anointing their hands with scented water, but the custom’s evolved into a friendly no-holds-barred mass water fight, a euphoric respite from the withering heat that essentially takes over the city this time of year.
Dew Suriyawan, owner and chef of Uptown’s great Immm Rice & Beyond, was so intent on hosting a water fight at the inaugural Thai New Year Water Festival that he pushed the date up more than a month so that he could hold it on a (hopefully) warm May weekend: this weekend, that is.
He also bought 1,000 water guns.
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