United States: Falun Gong Warmly Welcomed in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a northern suburb of Chicago situated on the shore of Lake Michigan. It is a quiet suburban city. Independence Day is a time of celebration across the USA, and many places hold parades to commemorate the special day. Evanston is no exception. The difference is that Evanston's parade is extraordinary in scale and quality. Last year Evanston's parade was awarded the third place among all Independence Day Parades. Thus the parade attracted tens of thousands of people from across the midwest.

This year was the 4th consecutive year that Falun Gong practitioners participated in Evanston's Independence Day Parade. Practitioners made careful preparations. They rehearsed the fan dance, lotus flower dance and carefully decorated a float.

The parade started at 2:30pm. The Falun Gong group was guided by banners declaring, "Falun Dafa" and "Truth Compassion Tolerance," followed by the beauty of the fan dance, the Falun Gong exercises, a lotus dance formation and a decorated car. As soon as Falun Gong group set off, spectators gave warm applause. In the over 2 miles of parade route, practitioners' performance won waves of applause from the spectators. The large number of flyers on hand were not enough for the huge crowds!

The escort of our group was very cooperative. After talking to him, we got permission to stop in front of the stage and finish the first set of exercises.

The parade finished at Northwestern University. There were many Chinese students. When they saw us they happily waved to us, totally different from the indifferent expressions we had received in previous years.

After the parade, Evanston's residents talked to some practitioners. They highly praised Falun Gong practitioners' performances and expressed their appreciation.