Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar (Surrey)

Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar is a Sikh temple at 12885 85th Avenue in the Newton area of Surrey, British Columbia. Its website lists a daily programme from the doors opening at 3:30 in the morning to Sukhasan at 9 at night, including Parkash, Nitnem, Asa Ji Di Vaar kirtan, katha, and Sikh history told by dhadi and kavishar singers.

Its part in this history: Global News reports that the Surrey Vaisakhi parade began in 1998, started by this gurdwara. The parade is a nagar kirtan held around Vaisakhi, the day Sikhs mark the creation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. It sets off from the gurdwara, and local families and businesses serve free langar along the route. Moninder Singh is the organisers' public voice: CTV News calls him the parade spokesperson and Global News calls him an organizer.

How the parade grew

• 1998: the first parade, with about 16,000 people (Global News).
• 2005: more than 80,000. 2011: about 150,000. 2016: about 350,000. 2017: more than 400,000 (Surrey Now-Leader).
• 22 April 2023: it returned after the pandemic, the first parade since 2019, and organisers reported more than 500,000 people (Global News).
• April 2025: more than 550,000 people and nearly two dozen floats. The federal party leaders Jagmeet Singh and Pierre Poilievre marched (CTV News).
• 18 April 2026: over 450,000 people and more than 20 floats, at what Global News numbered as the 28th parade.

These are estimates, and outlets count the editions differently.

Where it stands today: The gurdwara remains the starting point of the parade, which Global News describes as widely considered the largest of its kind in the world.