Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

On April 28, 2003 the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that "the 40-year-old abbot of the Thai Buddhist temple in nearby Palm Springs [FL] merrily confessed to having a great time Sunday as he and five other monks from Florida led a New Year's celebration to mark the start two weeks ago of the year 2546 in the Buddhist calendar... The Songkran festival drew about 300 people, most of them Thai, to a picnic shelter in Lake Worth's John Prince Park, where the resonant chanting of the monks was followed by an exhibition of traditional dances from a temple in Melbourne and a feast that included Thai favorites as well as specialties from Burma and China... The Mahadhatujetiyaram Temple, which Thuaprakhon heads, is one of several Theravada temples and teaching missions in Florida. Others are in Homestead, Melbourne and Kissimmee."