{"id":596156,"date":"2026-04-11T03:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/596156\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T03:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:16:11","slug":"surrey-vaisakhi-parade-expected-to-cost-up-to-900k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/596156\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrey Vaisakhi parade expected to cost up to $900K"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s Vaisakhi parade in Newton on Saturday, April 18 is expected to come with a tab of up to $900,000, mostly picked up by its organizers. The harvest festival celebrated by people of Indian descent typically draws about half a million people to Newton, making it Surrey\u2019s largest public event.<\/p>\n

Pary Dulai, a spokesman for the parade organizers, told the Now-Leader the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar hosts the parade \u201cand we foot all the bills from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no deep-pocketed corporations helping cover the costs, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s just the temple and public donations, right. We don\u2019t really have any corporate backers ready to.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s parade will begin at 9 a.m. at the gurdwara, at 12885 85 Ave., continue along 124 Street, then head left on 75 Avenue onto 128 Street before returning to the temple at about 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re paying everything. The whole budget, they were sharing it the other day, I think it will be probably around $800,000 to $900,000. There\u2019s a lot of volunteer stuff that happens like the cleanup, garbage disposal, but you\u2019re still paying for police, traffic control, security, you know, washrooms, ambulance, fire, right? First aid centres.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrivate security we pay for and traffic control we pay for. We pay for the police too.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s parade will see some new security protocols<\/a> in place in light of the Lapu Lapu Filipino festival tragedy in Vancouver almost one year ago where 11 people were killed and 32 injured when a car was driven down a crowded street.<\/p>\n

Surrey Police Service Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton noted there will be increased checkpoints, barrier systems and traffic restrictions and drones will be used again, like last year, except \u201cprobably more of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houghton noted there will be dozens of first-aid stations along the parade route, and search-and-rescue volunteers will be on scene at command posts they set up. \u201cThis is without a doubt the largest public event in Surrey every single year. There will be hundreds of police.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to city hall\u2019s communications department, a statement attributed to the parks, recreation and culture department notes that the City is piloting a \u201chostile vehicle mitigation plan\u201d to add \u201can extra layer of protection for all involved. This initiative will be strengthened during Khalsa Day to ensure a secure environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The City of Surrey statement reiterated that the gurdwara \u201ctakes on responsibility for costs associated with the parade, including security and policing expenses, traffic management personnel and vehicles, as well as first aid, fire, and ambulance services.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the event\u2019s size and significance, the City provides an annual policing grant that covers 50% of policing costs, up to a maximum of $55,000, to support robust public safety operations,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cAdditionally, City bylaw enforcement officers will be on site to help with compliance and ensure the event remains safe and orderly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ian MacDonald, a spokesman for the Surrey Police Service, told the Now-Leader there isn\u2019t a line item for for the Vaisakhi Parade in the police budget. \u201cThe overall policing budget includes regular, annual, large-scale events such as this and the policing responsibilities from the Surrey RCMP to SPS have been consistent with regard to Vaisakhi.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecific dollar numbers will have to come from the city. Police, the City of Surrey and the event organizers all play roles in this collaborative effort. \u201cAs this is an annual, large-scale event, it is fully accounted for via SPS budgeting.<\/p>\n

Councillor Rob Stutt, who also serves on the police board, said the temple pays the police service directly, usually in the vicinity of $350,000 to $380,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t charge for any staff services outside of the SPS,\u201d he said, including bylaws enforcement and city staff services. \u201cWe do that in kind, recognizing the significance of the event and also it brings a significant amount of income to the city as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s Vaisakhi parade in Newton on Saturday, April 18 is expected to come with a tab of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-596156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}