By Dafa practitioners in Los Angeles

(Clearwisdom.net) July 4, 2005 was American Independence Day, and the beautiful seaside city of Huntington Beach in Southern California held its 101^st Independence Day Parade. Falun Gong practitioners in Los Angeles participated for the second time in this largest-scale Independence Day parade west of the Mississippi River. Falun Gong practitioners provided performances including a waist drum group, celestial maiden dancers, a float decorated with blue sky and white clouds, and exercise demonstrations on the float. They were well-received by the spectators, and they brought good wishes of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" to 250,000 spectators along the parade route and three million television viewers.

The Huntington Beach Independence Day Parade is a traditional program for American people to celebrate their national day, and it is held every July 4th. This year's parade is the 101^st in succession. The parade is the largest in scale in the Western US, and is also one of the most famous American Independence Day Parades. There were 350 entries participating in this year's parade, with about 20,000 people taking part. Spectators numbered about 250,000, and at least three million watched the parade on TV.

Falun Gong float

Waist drummers group

The grand parade was held on broad No. 1 Road at the Pacific Seashore near the Pacific Ocean. The parade entries included floats, music and honor guards, chevalier groups, veteran groups, military motorcades and other types of groups. The large procession marched about four miles in about three hours. The Falun Gong contingent included a dance group, a waist drummers group and the float. It was one of the largest-scale parade entries, and also the only Chinese group participating in the parade.

Celestial maidens group

Celestial maidens group

Spectators gave warm applause to the Falun Gong practitioners' wonderful performances. Some people followed the waist drumbeat to wave US flags and balloon sticks. Some stretched their hands for flyers in a desire to learn what Falun Gong is, and some others followed practitioners' exercise demonstrations on the float by imitating the exercises.

Enthusiastic spectators

Enthusiastic spectators

There were several broadcasting stations along the parade route. Whenever the Falun Gong contingent passed by, the announcer introduced, "Falun Dafa is also called Falun Gong. It cultivates Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and is a peaceful cultivation practice benefiting people both physically and mentally. More than 100 million people in over 60 countries practice it. There is also a practice site at Orange County (the country where the Huntington Beach is located), everyone is welcome to come to participate."

Enthusiastic spectators

Handing out flyers introducing Falun Gong

Handing out flyers introducing Falun Gong

Handing out flyers introducing Falun Gong

Handing out flyers introducing Falun Gong

Posting date: 7/7/2005
Original article date: 7/6/2005
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/7/6/105569.html

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