iN PHOTOS: Crowds celebrate Vaisakhi at Kelowna parade

Spirits were high as rain fell on the Vaisakhi parade in Kelowna. Hundreds of people gathered at the Okanagan Sikh Temple in Rutland to celebrate the holiday with a parade full of colour, food, music, and movement. “Sikhs across the world and across Canada are gathering to mark Vaisakhi or the founding of the Khalsa,” according to a press release from the World Sikh Organization of Canada. “Although Vaisakhi has traditionally been a harvest festival in Punjab and across South Asia for centuries, the day has a very special significance for Sikhs. On Vaisakhi Day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh created the order of the Khalsa. The Khalsa are those Sikhs who have accepted the Sikh initiation or “khande kee paahul” and commit to live their lives in the spirit of service to all, equality and compassion. The founding of the Khalsa was a seminal event in Sikh history which gave the Sikh faith its final form,” the organization said in the release. READ MORE: iN PHOTOS: A Kelowna love story, images of a changing city https://infotel.ca/newsitem/in-photos-a-kelowna-love-story-images-of-a-changing-city/it103461 Various groups participated in the parade around Rutland including Okanagan Punjabi Riders motorcycle club, and the traditional Sikh martial arts group Akaal Sahai Okanagan Gatka Akhara.  Click here https://www.worldsikh.org/so_what_is_vaisakhi_in_canada_all_about to learn more about Vaisakhi. To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .