(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners participated in the Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade on State Street on the morning of November 27, 2014. Their procession was positioned in eleventh place in the parade. The eye-catching float was shown in reports by the Chicago Tribune and ABC TV, as well as live coverage by WGN TV.
Chicago's Thanksgiving Day parade started in 1934, and is one of the two largest Thanksgiving Day parades in the United States. Every year hundreds of thousands of people watch the parade in person, and over three million watch live coverage on TV. The parade organizing committee selects near one hundred groups from numerous applicants. This year the parade included large balloons, bands, floats, and colorful performing processions.
The Falun Gong float with practitioners demonstrating the exercises.
Falun Gong procession passes by the observation stage
Falun Gong practitioners' banner team
Parade participants assembled in the intersection of Congress Parkway and State Street at 8:00 a.m. As the parade began, the Falun Dafa music Pudu was heard between the buildings.
The Falun Gong procession consisted of a banner team and float. The large banners worded “Falun Dafa” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” were followed by a pink float, with practitioners demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises.
The Falun Gong procession organizer, Ms. Xiao, said that the float consisted of three sections, and was much larger than many others. Two sections were used to demonstrate the sitting meditation by young practitioners, led by practitioner Sharon, and the last section, which was higher, consisted of fairy performers demonstrating the first four exercise sets.
The float was well-decorated, and was an eye-catching addition to the parade. Applause and acclamation accompanied it along the entire parade route.
Two Chinese student spectators, who were taking photos of the float with their smart phones, were asked, “Do you know Falun Gong?” They answered, “Yes. We frequently see Falun Gong practitioners in community events.”
