Surrey Canada Day program

Fireworks over the main stage at Surrey Canada Day 2019. Photo: City of Surrey

THE City of Surrey on Wednesday released the schedule for Surrey Canada Day on Friday, July 1 at Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Programming includes a Residential School Survivor honouring ceremony on the Siam Stage at 12 p.m. and cultural sharing with land-based Nations on the main stage at 7:20 p.m.

The schedule also includes local live music, Surrey dance battles, Indigenous workshops, and main stage performers Arkells, Shawnee Kish, and Haviah Mighty. 

Surrey Canada Day’s new Siam Stage will feature contemporary performances and Indigenous cultural sharing from 11:30 a.m. to 6:40 p.m. Attendees can visit the Sharing Circles Teepee from 1 to 4:30 p.m. to learn about the hardships that Indigenous peoples lived through while attending Residential Schools. The Workshop Teepee will run from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and will feature teachings about Indigenous sacred medicines, the medicine wheel, traditional games, and corn husk doll making. 

The new Community Hub stage will run from 11 a.m. to 7:40 p.m. Here, attendees can watch Surrey youth compete in dance battles, and listen to live music by Surrey musicians including FKA Rayne, Glisha, Ashley Pater, Yvonne Kushe, and Pleasant Trees. 

“We are thrilled to be hosting Surrey Canada Day in-person after two years of virtual events,” said Mary Rukavina, Manager of Special Events and Filming. “We invite attendees to visit the expanded Indigenous Village, learn from Indigenous leaders and educators, and experience local music and dance performances on July 1 in Cloverdale.” 

Surrey Canada Day will feature over 30 food trucks, 16 amusement rides, 18 Summer Market vendors, and 30 live music performances, including by headliner Arkells at 9 p.m., Shawnee Kish at 7:50 p.m. and Haviah Mighty at 6:05 p.m.

Additional features include the 55+ Summer Social from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., craft beer and wine in the Barn from 1 to 9 p.m. and fireworks at 10:15 p.m. 

The City of Surrey says it is honoured to hold this event on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo land-based Nations.  

Surrey Canada Day will meet health and safety guidelines as set out by the Provincial Health Officer, Worksafe BC, Fraser Health and appropriate industry associations.

For more information, visit surrey.ca/canadaday.