The annual Lilac Festival in Rochester of upstate New York is a famous traditional festival in the area. Tens of thousands of people each year come to this event. This year's Lilac Festival had special meaning because it coincided with the 10th anniversary of Falun Dafa's public introduction worldwide. To utilize this opportunity to spread the Fa to the public, clarify the truth, as well as celebrate the 10th anniversary, the local Dafa practitioners participated in the Lilac Festival celebration for the 3rd year in a row.
May 11 is the first day of the Lilac Festival. It was a clear and sunny day. The festival was packed with enthusiastic visitors. The yellow and blue English banners reading "Falun Dafa" and "May 13 World Falun Dafa Day," decorated with colorful balloons, were very eye-catching from a distance. Many visitors stopped and read the Hongfa posters made by the practitioners.
The persecution of Falun Dafa in China by Jiang Zemin's political regime is well known to many westerners. Many visitors put their thumbs up to encourage and praise us. Many of them signed the petition letter to call for an end to the Jiang Zemin regime's persecution of Falun Gong.
A lady in her 40's read all of the posters very carefully and was shocked by the cruelty of Jiang's regime. She asked for many truth clarification materials and said she was going to let her friends know about what is happening in China.
In the afternoon, US Senator Schumer and two of his assistants showed up among the visitors. One of the practitioners recognized him and went up to greet him. Senator Schumer was one of the first senators to call upon the Chinese government to stop persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. Since then, he has signed many resolutions to support Falun Gong. We thanked him for his support of Dafa and invited him to take a look at our booth. Senator Schumer gave us a thumbs up and told the practitioners and other visitors: "Thank you for being here. Americans don't like what China is doing. Democracy will be in China one day."
Our Hongfa activity concluded successfully after sunset.
