(Clearwisdom.net) The annual Calgary Stampede, "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth" opened on July 6, 2007 in Calgary, Canada. The Calgary Stampede is officially begun each year with a grand parade. This year, Falun Gong was honored with three awards for its spectacular parade entry. The local people and media had high praise for them.
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The Calgary Stampede starts on the first Friday after Canada Day every year. The whole event lasts for ten days. Festivities include rodeo, horse races, horsemanship performances, a midway, and a variety of entertainment and leisure activities. The festival is known as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth," attracting visitors from around the world.
According to the Stampede organizing committee, the Stampede this year was the best in history. The featured color of this year's Stampede is pink, paying special tribute to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. A special "Tough Enough" Award was given to the Falun Dafa parade entry because it was the most pink in the parade.
The organizing committee officers said that Falun Dafa's contingent was so beautiful that they came to their contingent three times to present different awards to them. In addition to the "Tough Enough" Award, the Falun Dafa entry was also honored with Celebrity Choice Award and a Special Award.
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The organizing committee said that they especially invited three guests this year, including former Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein, and Canadian top-level athlete Kaleb Toth. They awarded the "Celebrity Choice Award" to Falun Dafa. After seeing the beautiful float, they felt two awards were not enough to express their appreciation to the Falun Gong group, and then came to the group a the third time to issue a "Special Award" to them.
Falun Gong practitioner Chi Yeh said the "Tough Enough" also reflected Falun Gong practitioners' uncompromising courage in face of the Chinese Communist Party's evil and tyranny, and their persistence in upholding the truth.
In the parade, the Falun Dafa entry was led by practitioners holding a huge eye-catching banner reading "Falun Dafa Is Good." A group of beautifully costumed "celestial maidens" and practitioners in Tang Dynasty costumes followed. Behind them was the most beautiful float. The huge pink lotus petals were brilliant in the sun, celestial maidens on the float gently waved to the spectators. Two Chinese and Western Falun Gong practitioners sitting on both sides gracefully demonstrated the exercises. The spectators were amazed at the wonderfulness and acclaimed "So fabulous!" The drummers' group was at the end of the contingent. The drummers looked strong and mighty.
The Falun Dafa entry attracted the attention of local mainstream media. Calgary's largest newspaper, the Calgary Herald, published a special edition the day after the parade called the Stampede Extra. The Falun Gong entry was featured as one of Parade Delights in the Stampede this year. The Falun Gong entry was also featured in nationwide TV news broadcasts about the parade. A young spectator was interviewed on the air and said, "I love the Falun Dafa!"
There were 166 groups in this year's parade. The entire route was 4.5 kilometers from start to finish and the parade lasted for three hours. The parade attracted 350 thousand spectators in person and two million TV viewers worldwide.
