(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Washington State were invited to participate in the Lakefair Grand Parade in the city of Olympia, the state capital, on July 19, 2025. The group received a Mayor’s Award from the organizer and was invited to participate in the parade again next year.
The timing was particularly meaningful as it happened before the 26th anniversary of the start of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution, which began on July 20, 1999. While the CCP is attempting to spread lies to slander Falun Dafa overseas, the people in these free lands are heartily lauding and commending Falun Dafa.
The parade is a highlight of Capital Lakefair, an annual summer festival in Olympia, held around Capitol Lake for five days. The festival features an amusement park, food stalls, music performances, a handcraft market, and the grand float parade. The festival began in 1957 and has a history of 68 years.
Falun Dafa Group Wins Mayor’s Award
Falun Dafa group received a Mayor’s Award from the organizer.
A practitioner held the Mayor’s Award during the parade.
“Thank You for Bringing a Beautiful Message”
Practitioners presented a float that was carefully decorated with auspicious cloud-like stuffs and origami lotus flowers of various colors. The float carried multiple practitioners in exercise uniforms and fairy costumes. Some of them demonstrated Falun Dafa’s five exercises, and some waved to the audience.
The Falun Dafa parade float
The float was designed, manufactured, maintained, and improved by practitioners with their selfless efforts over the years. Although the float is made of materials from this human world, it expresses an extraordinary message, showing the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa and emitting pure and positive energy, awakening people’s longing for Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance from the bottom of their hearts.
An audience member came to practitioners and said solemnly, “Thank you for coming here, and thank you for bringing a beautiful message.”
Sounds of Waist Drums Inspires Righteousness
The practitioners’ waist drum team was full of energy and spirit, following the beautiful melody with their beats. They performed “Falun Dafa is Good” and “Joyful Celebration” with dynamic rhythm, showing the audience some divinely-inspired traditional Chinese culture and its connotations. Their wonderful performance deeply moved the audience and inspired righteousness in people’s hearts. Audience members responded with warm applause and cheers after each performance.
The practitioners’ waist drum team was full of energy and received warm applause and cheers from the audience.
A woman shouted to the practitioner’s group, “I love your performance! You are the best!” When she learned that many of the members of this waist drum team had experienced brutal persecution by the CCP in China, she placed her hand on her chest to show her incomprehension and indignation about the persecution. She said that she admired practitioners even more after learning about what many of them had been through.
Another woman found practitioners at the end of parade and told them that she had been following the persecution of Falun Dafa for many years, and that she has always supported practitioners’ efforts to end the persecution. She said she had been praying for persecuted practitioners over the years, and she hoped that the persecution would end soon.
She talked to local practitioners from Olympia and wanted to learn more about practicing Falun Dafa in the local area.
Olympia is located about 60 miles south of Seattle and is famous for its unique historical charm and strong artistic atmosphere. It has many historical buildings preserved in the city center, along with beautiful natural scenery, as it is surrounded by forest, national parks, and water. It is a city with political, cultural, and natural charm.
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