Vaisakhi festival returns to Kelowna, B.C. with thousands in attendance – Okanagan | 24CA News
Thousands of individuals flooded the streets of Kelowna on Saturday to have fun Vaisakhi, after a three-year pandemic pause on the competition.
Vaisakhi is a celebration of the start of Khalsa and the spring harvest season.
The important occasion, shut down a number of roads within the space across the Okanagan Sikh Temple as a crowd of individuals marched by means of throughout a parade.
“Today we’re singing divine hymns in the neighbourhood to bless the neighbourhood,” mentioned Paramjit Patara, Okanagan Sikh Temple president.
One of probably the most notable elements of the competition was the quantity of meals, in response to Patara there was meals arrange at cubicles in each nook.
“Today is unbelievable how many stalls there are of different foods, we couldn’t actually accommodate all of them. There were more people that wanted to put up stalls,” mentioned Patara.
With this being the primary Vaisakhi competition since earlier than the pandemic in 2019, a standard theme among the many crowd was being grateful to be again collectively as a group.
“To see our community, just gathered happy and smiling and sharing a good time is nothing more than heartwarming,” mentioned Ajeet Brar, a parade participant.
This is the thirteenth annual Vaisakhi competition in Kelowna and it has grown exponentially over time, in reality, organizers say that is the biggest turnout but with shut to five,000 individuals in attendance.
“The community has grown in Kelowna as well in the Okanagan Valley but especially in Kelowna since the last time we did it in 2019,” mentioned Patara.
“I’m really proud of this – there’s a sense of proudness here.”
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