Annual Vaisakhi parade held in Vancouver's Punjabi Market

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 12, 2025 1:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The yearly Vaisakhi parade is being held successful South Vancouver connected Saturday, successful a solemnisation that usually draws hundreds of thousands of radical celebrating the Sikh outpouring festival.

Vaisakhi marks the archetypal harvest and the coming of a caller year, according to the Vancouver Khalsa Diwan Society, which organizes the parade.

For Sikhs, it besides marks the instauration of the bid of the Khalsa successful 1699 — a defining infinitesimal successful Sikh past which gave the Sikh religion its last form.

The parade starts connected Marine Drive astatine the Ross Street gurdwara, goes to the bosom of the Punjabi Market territory astatine the intersection of Main Street and 49th Avenue, past to Fraser Street and then back to the Khalsa Diwan Society temple. It usually features colourful floats, nutrient and music.

"Vaisakhi is ever connected [April 13], but we observe it connected Saturday," said Kashmir Singh Dhaliwal, wide caput of the society.

Hundreds of volunteers helped hole the temple earlier the parade, and Dhaliwal said helium expected adjacent to 200,000 radical to articulation the festivities connected Saturday.

Jagdeep Sanghera, vice-president of the Khalsa Diwan Society, said that determination was a flag-changing ceremonial connected Friday up of the celebration.

"We invited everybody, each political, antithetic views," helium said.

While Vancouver's Vaisakhi parade has drawn an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 radical successful caller years, an adjacent larger assemblage is expected for Surrey's Vaisakhi parade connected April 19.