(Clearwisdom.net) The last Friday of May is the annual Lilac Festival in Calgary, Canada. This is the season when lilac flowers bloom and you can smell their fragrance everywhere in the city. On May 28, Falun Gong practitioners participated in the 17th annual Lilac Festival.


Introducing Falun Dafa at the Calgary Lilac Festival

About 50,000 people visited the Lilac Festival this year. Along the 13-blocks-long Fourth Avenue, tents of different sizes and colors were set up to sell arts and crafts, snacks and clothing. There were also many entertainment programs too, including country music, blues, pop music, Rock 'n' Roll, Latin Dance, face painting and a children's playground. Fourth Avenue is famous for its diversity of culture and restaurants. During the festival, restaurants displayed their best food for free tasting. Because of all these features, the Lilac Festival was named "Best Free Program" for six consecutive years by the local weekly newspaper, FFWD.

Falun Gong had a booth at the festival too. Falun Gong, which originated from ancient China but is being brutally persecuted by the Communist Party in China, has developed quickly in countries throughout the world. The Falun Gong exercise demonstration attracted many visitors. Many of them asked where they could learn the exercises. People took the initiative to sign a petition calling upon the Canadian Government to condemn the persecution. Visitors, including many Chinese people, were very happy to receive a free paper lotus flower with a Falun Gong bookmark hanging below.