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Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade cancelled out of COVID-19 concern

Parade organizers concluded such a large gathering of people unsafe during pandemic
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Surrey Vaisakhi parade crowd in Newton in April 2018. (File photo: Crystal Scuor)

Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade has been cancelled this year, just like in 2020, on account of the pandemic.

It would have been held on April 24 but its organizers concluded such an event, which typically draws a half-million people to Newton’s streets each spring, cannot be held safely.

“It is clear that there is no path for an event the size and magnitude of our parade to occur safely within the next three months,” said Moninder Singh, president of Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar. “We will celebrate this important date in the Sikh calendar within our family groups and with special broadcast programming but will look to gather again as a community for the traditional Surrey Vaisakhi Khalsa Day Parade in 2022.”

READ ALSO: Surrey could see a ‘modified version, perhaps,’ of the annual Vaisakhi parade this year

READ ALSO: Cloverdale Rodeo & Country Fair postponed until later in 2021



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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