SURREY, BC, Canada—The 2015 annual Surrey Vasakhi Nagar Keertan (Sikh Day Parade) attracted over 300,000 people according to estimates. The number of attendees has kept on increasing year by year, making the Surrey event the biggest gathering of Sikhs outside of Punjab.
The Nagar Keertan began at 9:30 AM departing from Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar, making its way through the busy streets of Surrey, and returning back at the Gurdwara Sahib at around 5 PM. On the way there was langar, free food made by businesses, and families alike, being served along the streets of the route. A number of stalls were setup throughout the way, some were teaching how to tie turbans, others were selling t-shirts for fundraising, etc. Multiple stages were setup by different Gurdwaras and organizations throughout the way, where dhadhis and other speakers talked about different topics.
From the main stage of Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar, Dr. Harshinder Kaur (a social reformer), Bibi Roopinder Kaur (daughter of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa), Indira Prahst, Head of Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Langara College, Bhai Jaswinder Singh, son of Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh, Dhadi Tarsem Singh Monranwali and Jathedar Bhai Balwant Singh Nandgarh.
There were many floats this year – a few notable ones were the Harjas Float, Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa float, Communities United Against Modi, and others.
Please leave a comment and let us know what you liked the most about this year’s Sikh Day Parade in Surrey.
