The annual Canadian Tulip festival is one of the events Ottawa is best known for. Tourists and Ottawans alike flock to Commissioners Park each spring to gaze upon the beds of bulbs arranged in displays of stunning colours.
The festival is the first real sign of spring breaking in the capital, and marks the beginning of the outdoor festival season throughout the city.
“We have wanted to come for so long…we’ve heard about the festival and Canada since we were children,” said Jitske Edewald, an attendee of the festival who came with her family from the Netherlands.
“We wanted to experience the legacy of the friendship between the two countries, especially since it is expressed in such a beautiful way.”
The festival pays tribute to the friendship between the Netherlands and Canada, following events of the Second World War.
Jo Riding, general manager of the festival, said being part of the festival allowed her to “become part of a legacy. . .part of an honourable history.”
This year’s festival features 299,800 individual bulbs, with each one from one of over 3,000 different species, featured in 27 different garden beds. / Photo by Tim AustenThe 2019 festival drew hundreds of thousands visitors from the Ottawa area, from across the country and even worldwide. / Photo by Tim AustenEvery year since 1953, when the first bulbs were presented, the Netherlands gifts Canada with 20,000 tulip bulbs. / Photo by Tim AustenIn addition to the tulips, many local food trucks attend the tulip festival. / Photo by Tim AustenSixty-seven years after it began, the tulip festival is Ottawa’s longest running festival and still one of the most popular festivals in the capital, on par with Winterlude and July 1 celebrations. / Photo by Tim AustenThe festival also attracts many photography enthusiasts from many different places. / Photo by Tim AustenAn Ottawa local, Charlie Bonzani, said, “We came to see the colours, they are just spectacular!” / Photo by Tim Austen“We come every year. It’s become a tradition that was started by my father, and one I intend to pass on to my grandchildren,” said Mary Greenbriar, an attendee of the festival who was visiting Ottawa from Nova Scotia. / Photo by Tim Austen
