Ottawa tourist information - The Canadian Tulip festival
This annual event, usually held in May in the run up to the Victoria Day weekend, claims to have grown into the largest Tulip festival in the world attracting over half a million visitors every year. Throughout the city over 3 million tulips blaze with colour giving Ottawa the unspectacular title of tulip capital of North America.
The event began in 1953 - Princess Juliana of the Netherlands had presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs just after the second world war. The gift was given in appreciation of the safe haven in Ottawa that members of Holland's exiled royal family received during hostilities and in recognition of the role Canadian troops played in the liberation of the Netherlands.
The festival is ‘a festival without fences’ and there is no admission charge. The tulips fill several parks and areas of the lakeshore. In Commissioners Park musicians and artists perform and there are firework displays. Look out for the ‘man with two hats’ – a statue donated by the Dutch and symbolizing the friendship between the two countries.
In Major’s Hill Park during the Tulip Festival there is a large international pavilion with food, drink and cultural activities. Children are also catered for with crafts and other entertainment.
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