The event opened with a Japanese prayer and Frank Liu from China who appeared with a large group of children to greet the opening with a multitude of songs, dances and acrobatics. This was followed by an invocation to the elements by Jodi Serota, and a delightful ritual from the Amazon was enhanced by the Parrots for Peace – Baby and Merlin brought by Gloria Waslyn.

Angelo Romano created angel outlines from discarded curtain material for children to color. Throughout the day many children contributed to these beautiful works of art.

Highlights included international speaker and mediator for peace Josephine Prins, a Holocaust survivor who gave a peace presentation and shared her wisdom and experiences to inspire others towards world peace; a special composition ‘War’ performed by Tara Gathering Opera Group; Sat Kirin Kaur and her musicians performed wonderful Sikh prayers; Lisa Itakura interpreted her delightful Lemurian Dream dance and Yasuhiro bought from over 3000 miles, the gigantic Mandala wheel for everyone to engrave their wishes of peace for posterity; The Mandala art exhibit from Japan also traveled thousands of miles to find its way to the Bandshell as a symbol of desires of many who took the time to write ‘May Peace Prevail on Earth’ in different languages, represented in 45 pieces of art created all over the world (see Mandala Gallery)

Jay Emmanuel’s performance was highlighted by the wonderful tones of the crystal bowls played by Paul Utz and William Jones from Crystal Tones. The vibrational healing sounds of the crystal bowls have contributed to make the VIP a sought out event year after year. In 2004 the Crystal Tones donated a complete set of crystal tone bowls to be used at every VIP event. Both Jay and the Crystal Tones are devoted participants in all of our Peace events.

Gemma performed her ‘A Million Voices, One Peace’ song while Neko Zhang wowed the crowd with her ‘pop’ style peace songs and amazing dancing.

Caroline Uchima and Reiko Kamozawa coordinated the magnificent World Flag Ceremony with the assistance of Yasuhiro and his team for the grand finale for this wonderful event.

Participants included: Crystal Tones Singing Bowls, His Holiness Professor Lin Yun, James Cannings Music, piano virtuoso Edward Leung, Neko Zhang, Laraaji Helga Schleeh Mandala Art Project, Peace Ribbon International, Jay Emmanuel, Power of Harmony, Diego Costa, Gemma, Mary Lamont,