The City of Miami published an article on their website advertising the Coconut Grove Mango Strut Parade “For over 30 years, Miamians have kept the tongue-in-cheek parade alive with satirical costumes, marching bands and floats, usually with a facetious focus on local, national and global events from the last year. The parade also features actual marching bands, such as the New Orleans Funeral Marching Band and local high school marching bands, and local groups like the Grove Jugglers and the Coconut Grove Hare Krishna spreading their love. “
Devotees have not participated in this event for almost 20 years. The parade this year is the first after the pandemic. This is the first time we bring the Ratha Yatra to the festival and the organizers were very impressed by our float, the best on the parade.
Media coverage of the event feature photos of the Ratha and the devotees dancing, as one of the events highlights. Our participation in the parade was covered by Channel 7 TV news, The Miami Herald and AOL news.
As the Rath was approaching the main stage area the festivals master of ceremony announced” this is the Hare Krishna Group spreading love thru spiritual chanting. Let us join them, let us give them a hand”.
The crowd started chanting Hare Krishna and greeting us with big smiles, the public got books and invitations, and some joined the party on the parade. I had the chance to speak to one of the spectators, Jimmy, who was blissful, and said “Man you should be here every year. I remember when you were distributing food (Prasadam) to the hippies on Peacock Park.” His Grace Tamal Krishna Goswami and Visnuja Swami use to distribute Prasadam in the Park, a few blocks away from the parade site. Srila Prabhupada was here in 1975 preaching, a few of those classes are on the archives.
As we are getting ready for the 2024 parade, we invite all of you to join us in this blissful Ratha Yatra, with one of the largest audiences in South Florida. South Florida has been named the capital of Ratha Yatras in the USA, with 10 Ratha Yatras in different cities.
For more information go to our website Iskconmiamioutreach.com
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