Surrey was an entertaining place to live and work in 2024, judging by stories worth revisiting for Year in Review packaging:

1. FVDED fest returns bigger than ever

After a one-year break in 2023, 48,000 dance music fans filled Holland Park for July’s sold-out FVDED in the Park music festival, which featured Swedish House Mafia, Kx5 (the collaboration of Canadian DJ Deadmau5 and American producer Kaskade), Diplo and dozens of other hip-hop and electronic artists. Starting in 2015, tens of thousands of ticket-holders have flocked to FVDED, and the 2024 festival represented a triumphant return to Holland Park for Blueprint Events and partner Live Nation Entertainment. Looking ahead, the dates of July 4-5 have been booked for the festival’s 2025 edition.

2. Massive expansion for Central City Fun Park

Much bigger and boasting more things to do, the expanded Central City Fun Park was revealed in September. First launched in 2020 by the Whalley-raised Vilio brothers, the Bridgeview-area indoor amusement park is now around 100,000 square feet, three times larger than the original facility and now among Canada’s largest such parks. New features include carnival-themed mini golf, a new carousel, full-sized “Roller Disco” rink, more than 100 new arcade games, 16-person laser tag arena, larger bowling alley, two karaoke party booths, a 200-capacity banquet room and more, with an indoor go-kart track to come. “We may have both indoor and outdoor go-karts here one day, but we’ll see how the indoor ones do first, starting in early 2025,” Steve Vilio reported.

3. Jann Arden headlines Options benefit concert

Sept. 30 was a special night at Bell Performing Arts Centre, where Canadian entertainer Jann Arden sang and made people laugh as headliner of a gala concert for Surrey-based Options Community Services. The “Building Hope” gala event raised funds and awareness for the construction of affordable housing in the city. Indigenous folk duo Twin Flames and Surrey’s Ranj Singh & The Discriminators also performed at the event, tickets for which sold for $200 and up. A live auction included two first-class tickets to any Air Canada destination, generating $14,000 for the charity. In a raffle for Taylor Swift concert tickets, the initial winners weren’t in their seats to claim the prize, so other names were drawn.

4. Skye Avenue’s huge whisky collection

Whisky curator Stacy Kyle spent a good portion of her summer sorting, cleaning, cataloguing and showcasing bottles at Skye Avenue Kitchen & Lounge, a Surrey bar that boasts Canada’s largest whisky collection with close to 1,300 different kinds, or “expressions,” as Kyle calls them, with most of the focus on Scotch and American varieties. “The total number of bottles is closer to 2,000. I haven’t counted them but I’ve touched them all now,” Kyle added with a laugh. The collection was bought from the owners of Fets Whisky Kitchen, a landmark restaurant/bar that closed in 2022 after 36 years of business on Commercial Drive, Vancouver.

5. Homecoming for Merkules on tour with Snoop

“This tour has been an experience I’ll never forget, and I’m truly blessed,” Surrey-raised rapper Merkules said of spring concerts opening for hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg across Canada, including a homecoming show at Rogers Arena on June 25. Signed to Death Row Records, now owned by Snoop, Merkules also opened for Ice Cube in Victoria in April. Years ago, Merkules was better known as Cole Stevenson while growing up in a rancher on 90A Avenue, in the Green Timbers area of Surrey. The house, since demolished, is where Merkules honed his rap skills (starting out as Merk Mikz), during a period of isolation there following a brutal attack he suffered at age 16, while walking home from a New Year’s Eve party.

6. Sheepdogs help celebrate Canada Day

More than 90,000 people soaked up the sun and festivities during Surrey’s Canada Day festival in Cloverdale on July 1, breaking a record for the largest crowd in the event’s 20-year history at Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre. Saskatchewan’s The Sheepdogs certainly didn’t disappoint with a headlining set of old-school rock ‘n’ roll as the sun set, followed by fireworks. The event’s large summer attendance is “a testament to the incredible spirit and community pride that makes Surrey such a special place to live,” Mayor Brenda Locke said later. 

7. Surrey-set cop show a hit for CBC

It’s fun for Surrey residents to watch and spot local landmarks in Allegiance, the second season of which airs starting Jan. 15. Both set and filmed in Surrey, the police drama debuted in February and became CBC’s most-watched new series of the 2023-24 season. Last February, people filled Surrey City Hall during an invite-only launch party for Allegiance the night before its TV and streaming debut. The series, which stars Supinder Wraich and Enrico Colantoni, is a CBC original series from Lark Productions in association with Universal International Studios. 

8. Real-life couple stars in Arts Club musical

It was quite a story how Surrey-based actors Chelsea Rose and Jonathan Winsby met on set, began dating, got engaged and then co-starred in a big, fun, Broadway musical on an iconic Vancouver stage (Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage) where their romance first blossomed. In May they played Bible-thumping Sarah Brown and high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s Guys & Dolls. Rare is a chance for real-life lovers to play characters who kiss and, in this story set in 1950s New York City, fall for each other in a song-filled adventure of attracted opposites. Winsby has performed in several shows at the Stanley over the years, including a 2021 production of Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, which also starred Rose. That’s when they first met.

9. Harmony chorus hits the right notes 

Talk about a memorable late-October trip to Kansas City for Surrey-based Westcoast Harmony Chorus, which competed at the 2024 Sweet Adelines International convention and placed sixth on the international stage. “We improved 67 points over 2022 (after improving 104 points between 2018 and 2022!), and I could not be more proud about what we put on the stage this year,” raved director Anne Downton. An a cappella chorus with more than 60 members of varying ages, Westcoast rehearses Wednesdays at Parkland Community Church at 96 Avenue and 160 Street, where singers learn “new, challenging repertoire, from traditional barbershop to contemporary pop and rock arrangements.” More details on westcoastsings.com.

10. Lollapalooza ’94 memories

Thirty years ago last August, a landmark Lollapalooza concert was held in Surrey when close to 28,000 people paid $35 each to see and hear some popular alt-rock bands of the day (Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Green Day and others) perform at the Fraser Downs horse racetrack of Cloverdale Fairgrounds. The touring festival still represents one of the largest single-day ticketed concerts in Surrey history. I was there, and so was Jill, my partner. We didn’t know each other then, but that day I took a single photo of the stage and crowd, and we’re almost certain that the 14-year-old Jill is in that rare photo, with her back turned to the camera. Quite a coincidence!