Alex Wilks, Surrey Now-Leader contributor
SURREY — Families brought their lawn chairs and beach blankets to Surrey’s Holland Park in late June for the opening night of the fifth annual Sounds of Summer Music Series.
The City of Surrey plans a total of 13 concerts at local parks and plazas in celebration of various genres of music throughout the summer.
“We thought holding music concerts in parks was a unique way to bring people into parks and learn a little bit more about what Surrey parks have to offer,” says Dan Nielsen, from the City of Surrey. “We have a variety of different music acts throughout the summer so there’s something probably for everybody in this concert series.”
Attendees can expect to hear everything from Canadian folk, bluegrass and Indian-Pakistani sitar and tabla to Caribbean, Irish Celtic and jazz.
“All the bands, all of the musicians are from this region so we will have some Surrey musicians but we will also have some musicians from neighbouring municipalities as well.”
Nielsen said that families will travel to each concert across the city weekly. He even recognizes familiar faces at each event.
Sirikun Faichai and her family listened to a concert in Hawthorne Park last summer and decided to enjoy the concert series again this year.
“The music is really nice,” she said. “There’s families and dancing… My kids like it too.”
A few couples were even seen dancing and twirling in front of the stage to some swing-style music.
“We typically see that this concert Sounds of Summer gains momentum when friends start telling friends about it and we’re seeing that tonight,” said Nielsen.
“We have about 150 to 200 people here right now and they’re all grabbing the brochure because they want to tell their friends about it.”
The parks will open to the public on each performance night at 5 p.m., with music beginning at 6:30 p.m.
See a list of all upcoming shows here: surrey.ca/culture-recreation/13488.aspx.
