Surrey’s Party for the Planet will celebrate Earth Day on Saturday, April 29 this year.
The daytime festival, billed as Western Canada’s largest free Earth Day event, features live music, dance battles, a sustainable marketplace, plant sale, environmental workshops, kids’ activities and more at Surrey Civic Plaza, city hall and library. Admission is free.
First held in 1970, Earth Day is marked annually on April 22, and Surrey’s Party for the Planet is always held on a Saturday close to that date.
This year April 22 falls on a Saturday, which would make for perfect timing, but that day is already busy in Surrey with the return of the massive Vaisakhi parade in Newton, so the city’s Earth Day event is planned on April 29.
“There are so many resources used for the parade,” explained Mary Rukavina, Surrey’s manager of special events. “In our experience, in working with the different environmental organizations, it’s really Earth Month now in April, not just Earth Day, and that’s why we decided to have it on April 29. Coming out of COVID, it’s Vaisakhi’s first time back after three years, so we just pushed our event back one week.”
Party for the Planet’s website (partyfortheplanet.ca) features a 46-second event promo video.
Twenty-one music, dance and other groups are booked to perform on three stages, from DJ A-Slam to hip-hop dancers West. The plaza will also stage alt-rock band Sleepy Gonzales, funk-pop singer Rebecca Sichon, reggae artist Mivule, cover band Matt Cook-Contois & Erik Severinson, Glisha, North Surrey Dance, KP Glee Club, CircusWest and more.
The website features
A plant sale hosted by Surrey Parks will sell native plants from $3 to $6. University Drive will include a rock-climbing wall, exhibitors and plant-based food trucks. The sustainable marketplace will see local vendors selling eco-friendly products, and a clothing swap involves free, lightly-used clothing items.
Party for the Planet is first of the City of Surrey’s free family celebrations for 2023, and is presented by TD for a 12th consecutive year. Such gatherings “serve an incredibly important purpose by bringing people together in the spirit of promoting a more vibrant, sustainable tomorrow,” according to Chris Sirovyak, a district VP with the bank.
• RELATED: ‘Significant crowds’ expected for April return of Surrey’s Vaisakhi Parade after 3-year absence.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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