(Clearwisdom.net) On November 26, 2009, Falun Gong practitioners participated in the 60th Houston Thanksgiving Day Parade, the largest annual parade in Texas.

More than 400,000 people watched the parade on site and nearly two million more viewers watched live coverage on TV. The Falun Gong procession was the only Chinese group in the parade. It consisted of the Divine Land Marching Band and a Falun Gong exercise demonstration team.

The parade started at 9 a.m. Astronaut Bernard Harris, the first African-American to walk in space, led an honor guard in front of the parade. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee stood in a car in the parade, among various floats and marching bands.

The Falun Gong procession started with banners reading "Falun Dafa" and "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance" in English and Chinese. The Divine Land Marching Band members wore Song Dynasty costumes and played songs such as "Falun Dafa is Good," "Drums and Trumpets Shake the Ten Directions", and "America the Beautiful." The band is composed of Falun Gong practitioners in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. The exercise demonstration team wore yellow costumes and demonstrated the exercises. Many spectators gave warm applause and took photos.