Celebrating culture and traditions: Surrey Fusion Festival is back with a World Cup twist

Western Canada’s largest multicultural event is returning to Surrey’s Holland Park next month — this time with a focus on the beautiful game.

The 19th year of the Surrey Fusion Festival follows the theme “One World, One Game,” featuring a global showcase of culture and different countries’ love of soccer on July 18 and 19. 

The event is located 30 minutes outside Vancouver, one of the cities co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The tournament will also wrap up on July 19 with the World Cup final.

The festival includes more than 50 cultural pavilions, which will explore authentic foods, music, and traditions.

“Pavilion organizers will be dressed up in all their soccer gear, sharing why soccer is important to their country through displays and storytelling,” says Amy Kim, a City of Surrey special events marketing specialist. “We’ll have some more soccer [activities] throughout the event.”

Australia, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Palestine, and the Philippines are among the countries setting up shop with a pavilion.

Some of the foods offered at the different pavilions include chicken or vegetable chow mein and fried pork dumplings at China’s pavilion, pastel beef or cheese at Brazil’s booth, and an assortment of bannock dishes at Canada’s stall, including bannock tacos and cinnamon sugar bannock bites.

Visitors can also expect a variety of live performances across eight stages all weekend long, including Latin music and dance group Aché Brasil, Anishinaabe comedian Brenda Prince, and The Folk Turbanators, a trio performing traditional Punjabi folk music.

Rock band 54-40, who hail from Delta, and Punjabi pop artist Kulwinder Billa are headlining this year’s festival.

The event will feature a family zone, Indigenous village, and marketplace.

Kim says there will also be amusement rides and an inflatable area, along with a cultural cooking arena, which will offer a youth cooking showdown on the Saturday.

“We call it the Battle of Flavours, so they come down and compete against each other and see who makes the best dish,” she says, adding that the Sunday will have world-renowned chefs provide cooking demonstrations at the arena.

The annual event came to be after the Department of Canadian Heritage designated Surrey the Cultural Capital of Canada for municipalities with a population more than 125,000, the City of Surrey wrote in an email statement to The Runner.

This achievement included a grant to promote the city’s diverse arts, heritage, and multicultural landscape, leading to a number of local initiatives and events — including the Fusion Festival.

“We’ve seen that people love the festival and love what it’s about,” Kim says. “People are learning about different cultures and … can have a safe space to express their own culture.”

This year, Kim says the city is expecting 80,000 to 90,000 attendees throughout the weekend. The festival hit a record in 2023 with more than 110,000 visitors.

“Surrey is such a diverse city, so providing such a multicultural event really makes everyone feel welcome.”

For more information, visit www.surreyfusionfestival.ca.