The largest Vaisakhi Parade outside of India is taking place Saturday in Surrey.

A diverse crowd will be on hand for one of the most important days of the year for the Sikh community, with those in attendance enjoying free food and drink in keeping with religious teachings.

With up to 250,000 people taking over several kilometres of roadway, safety was top of mind. In light of recent gun violence in Surrey, police said they will be keeping watch.

“We don’t expect it to occur,” Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann said. “Most of the problems that we’ve been having in the city are targeted to one specific group. This is a family event. It’s been held for many years and we’ve never had any serious problems here ever. That said, in the eventuality that something does happen we have very fulsome, robust plans in place and we’re ready to take action if required.”

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– With files from Justin McElroy