Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara, Surreyਦਸਮੇਸ਼ ਦਰਬਾਰ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ, ਸਰੀ

Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara is the Sikh temple at 12885 85 Avenue in Surrey, British Columbia, in the Newton neighbourhood. Formed in 1998, it is one of the largest gurdwaras in British Columbia, and it organises the Surrey Khalsa Day Vaisakhi Parade, now described as the largest Vaisakhi procession in the world. It is one of the entries in our guide to Gurdwaras in Canada.

What is Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara?

Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara is a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship: the word means the doorway to the Guru, and the prayer hall centres on the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture honoured as the eternal Guru, while the langar kitchen serves a free vegetarian meal to everyone who comes. The name Dasmesh honours Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Guru, who founded the Khalsa at Vaisakhi in 1699, and the gurdwara's own site frames its life around Gurbani, katha (scriptural discourse), the memory of the shaheeds (martyrs) and the Khalsa. Scholars of the region describe it as an orthodox gurdwara, in contrast to Surrey's larger Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on Scott Road, which the same sources call moderate. The two temples anchor Sikh life in a city where, at the 2021 census, more than 154,000 residents, over a quarter of Surrey's population, identified as Sikh.

A gurdwara formed in 1998

Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar was formed in 1998, when Surrey's Sikh congregation had grown so quickly that there was strong interest in a second great gathering place alongside the Scott Road temple and in a Vaisakhi celebration of Surrey's own. At that time only the Vancouver Vaisakhi parade existed in the region. From its first year the new gurdwara hosted the Surrey parade, and it has run continuously ever since. A timeline of a century of Sikh life in British Columbia, published by The Province, marks 1998 simply: the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar is established, and it will over the years stage the biggest Vaisakhi parades outside India. Asian Television Network, announcing live Gurbani broadcasts from the temple in 2014, called it one of the largest gurdwaras in British Columbia and noted that since 1998 it had continuously held programmes to benefit and promote the Sikh way of life, including regular gurdwara programmes, Punjabi and Gurmukhi language classes for children and programmes in Sikh history.

Why is the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade so large?

The Surrey Vaisakhi Parade is so large because it grew with Surrey itself. The parade, also called the Surrey Nagar Kirtan or Khalsa Day Parade, began in 1998, initiated by Dasmesh Darbar, with around 16,000 people at the first procession. By 2007 attendance had reached 100,000, and in April 2025 the 27th annual parade welcomed over 550,000 people to the Newton area, which reports now call the largest Vaisakhi procession in the world. More than 20 floats take part, representing local Khalsa schools, gurdwaras and Sikh organisations, and hundreds of booths and family stalls along the route give away free food and drinks to everyone, an act of seva, selfless service, at the heart of the day. The procession celebrates the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the spring harvest. It starts at the gurdwara in the morning, travels along 124th Street, 75th Avenue, 76th Avenue and 128th Street, and returns to the temple by late afternoon, with the Guru Granth Sahib carried on the leading float.

The Nishan Sahib and daily life at the temple

Outside the gurdwara stands one of its best known landmarks: a Nishan Sahib, the Sikh flagpole, reported in 2010 at some 42 metres high, levelled each year with a hydraulic mechanism so its saffron cloth and khanda flag can be changed in a reverent ceremony with milk and water before Vaisakhi. Volunteers at the temple explain that the pole can be seen from many parts of Surrey, a sign that this is a place where the hungry can come to eat, the faithful can come to pray and the suffering can find refuge. Inside, the week runs on kirtan, katha and langar, with volunteers spending hours a day cooking in the communal kitchen and preparing floats and details for the parade. Since March 2014, ATN has carried live telecasts of Gurbani from Dasmesh Darbar on its Punjabi channels, taking the temple's Sunday to Friday discourses to viewers across Canada.

How do you visit Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara?

You visit at 12885 85 Avenue, Surrey, BC V3W 0K8; the gurdwara is open daily from early morning, and its phone number is 604 594 2574, with its site at dasmeshdarbar.ca. Everyone is welcome, Sikh or not, and no booking or payment is needed. Cover your head, remove your shoes, wash your hands, sit in the prayer hall, and stay for langar, the free vegetarian meal open to all. If you come at Vaisakhi in April, expect road closures around Newton from morning to late afternoon and plan to walk to the parade route.