The 2025 Surrey Nagar Kirtan, also known as the Vaisakhi Parade, welcomed over 550,000 people to the Newton area on Saturday.
The event is now considered the largest Vaisakhi procession in the world.
Surrey’s Vaisakhi Parade began in 1998, initiated by Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar.
The first parade saw around 16,000 people attend.
Attendance levels continued to grow throughout the years with 100,000 attendees in 2007.
Organizer Moninder Singh says the growth highlights the positive impact of Surrey’s Sikh community.
“I’ve had the opportunity to actually be at every single one over the last 27 years. It’s been an amazing sight to see it grow and expand,” he said.
“Although it is a parade, a Nagar Kirtan that celebrates the birth of the Khalsa, there are a lot of other learnings and opportunities to actually engage with other communities,” he added.
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“So, when you go through the procession, you’ll notice all walks of life, all different nationalities, backgrounds, faiths. It just helps grow the understanding between the community in Surrey and beyond.”
Over 20 floats were in the procession representing local Khalsa schools, Gurdwaras and Sikh organizations.
Vaisakhi marks the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 by the Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
The Khalsa is an order Sikh’s live by promoting values of devotion, equality, honesty and community service.
One of the pillars of Sikhism is seva, the concept of selfless service.
Families along the parade route did seva by serving free vegetarian food known as langar.
Vaisakhi also marks the beginning of the harvest season, making it a very joyous occasion.
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