United States: Practitioners Participate in Gilbert City Parade in Arizona

On November 13th, 2010, the annual grand parade was held Gilbert, a satellite city of Phoenix, Arizona. Falun Gong practitioners from Arizona and Los Angeles participated in this parade to introduce Falun Gong to the local people. Practitioners were the only Chinese group in the parade.

Falun Gong practitioners participate in the parade in Gilbert, Arizona

The parade started at 9 am. When the practitioners assembled their float, the huge and beautiful lotus flower attracted many visitors. A member of another group in the parade was touched by the beauty of the float and practitioners' collaboration. He took a bundle of flowers from his own group and presented it to the Falun Gong practitioners.

Following the lead of a large banner with the words "Falun Dafa is great," practitioners in golden costumes held colourful banners with Falun emblems and the words "Falun Dafa." Next was the float decorated with lotus flowers in various colors. Practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises on the float.

Along the parade path were crowds of spectators. The parade path spanned more than two miles. When the float passed by, spectators gave warm applause and acclaim. Some practitioners distributed flyers to the spectators along the procession.

The parade host organisation set up an information stage every quarter mile. The announcer introduced processions passing by. When the Falun Gong procession passed, the announcer said, "This is Falun Dafa, a practice originated from ancient China. Falun Dafa practitioners follow the universal principles 'Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.' Currently more than one hundred million people practice Falun Dafa."

When the parade ended and the practitioners disassembled the float, almost all the other groups in the parade passing by praised the beauty of the float. The practitioners talked with them and introduced Falun Gong.