Vaisakhi shines in Goderich as crowds grow year after year
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
Huron County’s annual Vaisakhi celebration is never short on wonderful sensory experiences - there’s a plethora of pakoras, endless waves of flavourful vegetarian dishes, high-energy Bhangra dancing, colourful turban-tying demonstrations and intricate henna art abounds.
But this year’s celebration also sought to serve another purpose: helping to bring a much-needed medical device to the local hospital. Organized by the Huron Seva Foundation (HSF), Sunday’s Vaisakhi was held to raise funds for a new MRI machine at the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital Foundation.
Event organizer and HSF board member Gurpreet Singh opened the formal portion of the day by explaining the meaning behind the foundation’s name. “‘Seva’ is a selfless act, or selfless service. It’s giving back, without expecting anything in return,” he told the crowd. “While we are here today to enjoy Bhangra, delicious Indian food and turban-tying demonstrations, we are also here with a shared purpose. As you saw on the posters, all the donations from today’s event are going to Alexandra Marine and General Hospital Foundation for its MRI campaign. Having this technology available locally is a game changer for healthcare. For Goderich and the surrounding area, it means shorter wait times, better care for our families, for our friends and for our neighbours. We’re very lucky to be living in communities where our leaders are truly invested in our success and health.”
Singh then welcomed Lisa Thompson, Huron-Bruce MPP and Minister of Rural Affairs, to officially open the celebration. “Ladies and gentlemen, this celebration is all about wishing peace and joy to each other and celebrating community with dance, with festivity and with camaraderie,” she said. “And I want to thank the Huron Seva Foundation for bringing us all together today. Have a great celebration.”
Goderich Councillor Vanessa McMillan also brought welcome greetings on behalf of the municipality. “It’s so amazing to see how many people come out to gather and to celebrate festivals like this,” she commented. “I just wanted to extend my sincere gratitude for the invitation to this event, and to thank each of you for coming as well. I think one of the things that is most remarkable about Huron County is the people who live here, so it’s really nice to take advantage of any opportunity to get together, to share a meal, to share conversation, and to get to know one another a little better.”
Representing the hospital foundation’s Magnetic Moments campaign, Mandy Sinclair outlined the scope of the effort. The campaign aims to raise $6.5 million over two years to bring an MRI machine to Huron County, and has already reached $2,138,746 since launching on Dec. 2. “All of this money is raised within the community. The government covers operating costs for the MRI department in staffing, but not the capital for the machine itself,” she said. “We recently did the math, and we found that if every resident in Huron County, based on the 2021 census data, donated $105.92, we would reach our fundraising goal. But we know that not everyone has the means to do so, and it really takes the entire community coming together to help improve our healthcare.”
The cultural significance of the day was further highlighted by Anmol Kaur, who spoke about Vaisakhi’s roots. “I know a lot of us in Huron County are surrounded by farms. Our background is from Punjab in the northern part of India, and a lot of us actually come from farming backgrounds,” she explained. Observed each April, Vaisakhi is a traditional harvest festival in the Punjab region of India, celebrating the gathering of winter crops and giving thanks for the land and those who work it.
Kaur also offered details on some common Vaisakhi traditions, including free community meals known as “langar”, which are always vegetarian and open to all, as well as music, dance and acts of service that reflect the festival’s emphasis on equality, gratitude and shared humanity. “This is both a religious festival and also one that’s dedicated to thanking those that feed us; those that do all the hard work on their farms to get it to our plates,” she pointed out. “Without them, realistically, we wouldn’t be doing much at all.”