COTEAU — A colorful and eventful Lao New Year celebration closed Sunday afternoon at Wat Thammarattanaram Buddhist Temple in Coteau with the building of sand castles, water fights and vendors packing up their wares and heading home. 

The three-day festival took place at the temple, located in Lanexang Village, to ring in the Year of the Dog on the Lao calendar. Cleanup efforts took place throughout the day to clean up the past two days of litter left by thousands of visitors and local residents.

The annual event started Friday with the Nang Song Kran pageant followed by an afterparty. The  celebration continued with the annual parade on Saturday.