  Falun Gong procession |
  Falun Gong procession |
(Clearwisdom.net) On May 20, Monterey Park held a grand parade as part of its 90th birthday celebration. Starting at 11 a.m., more than 200 groups marched on Garvey Blvd. California Falun Gong practitioners participated in this parade to celebrate this special holiday. For their outstanding performance, the practitioners' marching band, float and waist drum troupe won first place awards in their categories respectively and the dance troupe won a second place award.
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Western U.S. Divine Land Marching Band received a first place award
  Float |
  Waist drum |
  Enthusiastic spectators |
  Enthusiastic spectators |
  Enthusiastic spectators |
Monterey Park is located east of Los Angeles and is the only U.S. city with Chinese as the majority ethnicity. Among the five city council members, 3 are Chinese. To celebrate its 90th birthday, the city held a series of events from May 18 to May 21, including a festival, concert and parade.
  Falun Gong received awards from 4 categories: 1st place for Marching Band, Float, and Drums; 2nd place for Dance |
Among the more than 200 groups, Falun Gong's procession was the largest one, consisting of a marching band, a fairy dance troupe, a waist drum troupe and a float. At the very front of the procession, practitioners displayed "Celebrate the 90th Birthday of Monterey Park", "Falun Dafa Spreads around the World" and "Falun Dafa" on giant banners. The procession's performance, as well as the Falun Gong demonstration on the float, demonstrated the beauty of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" to warm applause and cheers.
The Western U.S. Divine Land Marching Band, based in San Francisco, made its first public performance in Southern California. The band, with nearly 200 members, marched down Garvey Blvd, and played "America the Beautiful" and "Falun Dafa is Good." Some students were cheering and running down the sidewalk to the pace of the band.
When the Falun Gong procession passed the main stage, the host introduced Falun Gong to the spectators through a microphone: "Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, cultivates according to the principles of 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.' It is a practice benefiting health of both mind and body. Around the world, there are more than 100 million people in 80 countries participating in the practice."
The host added: "If you are interested in the practice, there are many practice sites in Los Angeles County and Orange County where you can learn the practice for free."
