A brewery, racehorse stables, honeybee hives, a fire hall and one bike club are among the 27 facilities featured in this year’s Surrey Doors Open event, set for Saturday, June 8.
The “behind the scenes” event opens the doors to venues across the city from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free hop-on/hop-off transportation offered for seven of the sites in Cloverdale and Whalley.
Surrey’s eighth annual event will be launched at the Museum of Surrey at 12:30 p.m., with participating venues offering a closer look at Surrey’s culture, history, art, and architecture. The free community event includes a variety of activities – guided tours, demonstrations, contests, games, activities and more.
“Visitors can win prizes by sharing their experience on social media, using the hashtag #surreydoorsopen, or by emailing images to doorsopen@surrey.ca,” notes an event advisory. “Prizes can also be won by taking a brief survey at surrey.ca/doorsopen.”
The inspiration for Surrey Doors Open stems from the La Journee Portes Ouvertes event first held in France in 1984. The idea later spread to neighbouring countries and has since expanded around the world.
Close to 7,500 visitors participated in Surrey Doors Open in 2018, according to a post on the event website.
This year, Cloverdale has the most participating venues, including Fraser Valley Heritage Railway, Fraser Valley Virtual, Harness Racing BC, Honeybee Centre, Museum of Surrey, Surrey Animal Resource Centre, Surrey Archives, Surrey Fire Services Hall No. 8, Surrey Heritage Society (BC Vintage Truck Museum) and Surrey Historical Society.
Venues in Whalley are Central City Brewers & Distillers, Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre, City Centre Library, Di Reggae Cafe, Douglas College Training Group, Sprite Multimedia Systems Ltd., Surrey Biofuel Facility, Surrey City Hall, Surrey Nature Centre and Viva Care Medical Group.
Newton-area venues this year are Maranatha Canadian Reformed Church, Surrey Amateur Radio Training & Operations Centre, Surrey Operations Centre, while South Surrey stops will include Historic Stewart Farm, SORCE Bike Club, South Surrey Operations Centre and Surrey Parks & Sunnyside Acres Heritage Society.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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