April 17, 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times
On April 17, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that more than 5,000 Vietnamese gathered Sunday, April 16th at Santa Ana College in Southern California to celebrate the 2,544th anniversary of the Buddha's birth. The celebration, which is now in its sixth year at Santa Ana, was one of the largest in Southern California, with more than 100 Buddhist monks and nuns from as far away as Canada attending the event.