(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners of Atlanta, Georgia celebrated World Falun Dafa Day in Shorty Howell Park on the afternoon of May 13, 2006. Local Chinese celebrity Mr. Zhao Zengyi started his speech with "Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa is great!" Falun Gong practitioners from Alabama and South Carolina also drove hours to participate in the event.
 Happy birthday to Master |
 Students from Minghui School recite poems from "Hongyin" |
On May 13, it was bright and sunny. Falun Gong practitioners decorated the pavilion of Shorty Howell Park with colorful balloons and banners. The banner that read, "World Falun Dafa Day" was the most outstanding. At 4 p.m., the celebration started. Some practitioners and students from Minghui School performed for the guests. The performance included a Falun Gong exercise demonstration, poetry recital, joyful drums, music ensemble "Falun Dafa is Good," violin solo, dance "Picking Lotus Flowers," electric keyboard solo "Pudu," and choral performances of "Coming for You" and "Falun Dafa is Good." The violinist is a student at Georgia Tech. She is not a Falun Dafa practitioner, but her parents are. She performed to show her support for her parents and for Falun Dafa.
"The children's dance 'Picking Lotus Flowers' gave me the deepest impression. The two children's dances are beautiful," said Kelly McBride, a Falun Gong practitioner from South Carolina, "I have seen similar costumes and dances in pictures before, but seeing it in person has had a deeper impact on me."
"We only started practicing the 'Picking Lotus Flowers' dance a few days ago," said host Xu Dan, "In order to make sure today's performance would be successful, Amy asked her father to let her practice until after 11 p.m. last night so she could totally master the movements."
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After the performances, the host invited Mr. Zhao Zengyi to give a speech. Mr. Zhao is the principal of a local Chinese language school and is one of the local Chinese celebrities. Mr. Zhao started his speech with "Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa is great!" to welcome World Falun Dafa Day. He also wished Falun Dafa's founder, Master Li, a happy birthday and wished that Falun Gong will do even better and grow even stronger.
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Renate Carreras was among the guests too. She saw the World Falun Dafa Day notice in the newspaper. She clipped the notice and made a phone call to ask more about the details. She decided to come and learn more about Falun Gong. Renate said she first heard about Falun Gong four years ago at Benson Center in Sandy Springs where she used to live. An African-American lady was introducing Falun Gong and she happened to pass by. Renate said she had learned Taiqi and Qigong, and had learned acupuncture in Sri Lanka. She was very interested in Falun Gong and happy to see that such an ancient exercise and tradition has been preserved.
Before the event ended, all the participants took a photo together to say "Happy Birthday" to Master.