Bed and Breakfast Surrey: Surrey, a thriving city in British Columbia, has been around for longer than most of Metro Vancouver and is home to some of Canada’s largest events and surprising facts. Here are 14 little-known facts about this big area that you might not know.
- Canada’s first Kabaddi stadium is in Surrey. Kabaddi is an official sport of Bangladesh and a popular game in India.
- Over 100,000 people attend Surrey’s Canada Day event at the Bill Reid Amphitheatre, which features amusement rides, games, fireworks, and a Canada 150 stage.
- Before her debut album release, Lady Gaga once played a show at Surrey’s infamous Mirage Nightclub, where tickets cost only $25.
- Surrey’s population is set to surpass Vancouver’s in the next 10 years due to its more expansive land area.
- Surrey is BC’s third-largest city by area (317 sq km) and second-largest by population (roughly 460,000 residents).
- BC’s largest public school district is School District 36 Surrey, which had 71,838 students during the 2016/2017 school year.
- Surrey is home to the Guinness World Record’s longest beard, belonging to Sarwan Singh, a resident of Surrey, BC, which measured 2.495 m (8 ft 2.5 in) when it was officially measured in 2011.
- Surrey got its name from Surrey, England, after Queen Victoria named New Westminster.
- Surrey is the only community in the province that has two border crossings, Peace Arch Crossing or Pacific Truck Crossing, making it Metro Vancouver’s gateway into the USA.
- The Peace Arch is the first of its kind worldwide and was constructed in 1921 to mark 100 years of peace between Canada and the USA. Half of the arch is in each country, and it stands 67 feet tall.
- Surrey was incorporated in 1879, seven years before Vancouver was incorporated as a municipality, making it older than Vancouver.
- Even though Surrey has a large population, 35% of its land is designated as agricultural and is still farmed to this day.
- The TV series Smallville, an interpretation of the Superman story, was frequently shot in Cloverdale, a neighborhood in Surrey.
- The Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is the third-largest rodeo in North America and the second-largest in Canada, making it one of the continent’s largest rodeos.
