| Ottawa's Tulip Celebration | ||||||
| April 5, 2007 | ||||||
Ring in
Spring with Ottawa Tourism’s Tulip Celebration Package
Visit Ottawa this May and watch the city burst with colour at the Canadian Tulip Festival from May 4 to 21. More than three million tulips in the region create an exotic mosaic during the annual festival. The two-night Tulip Celebration Package includes accommodation; a Tulip Souvenir Pack, as well as admission to one of the city’s world-renowned cultural attractions such as the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of Civilization or the Canadian War Museum. The Souvenir Pack includes a commemorative Tulip Festival pin, keychain, postcards and special coupons all packaged in an enviro-friendly Tulip souvenir bag. A variety of hotels are available to suit every budget. The Canadian Tulip Festival will be a “festival without fences” with free admission to all parks featuring the massive tulip beds. This includes Commissioners Park at Dows Lake with 300,000 tulips, Major’s Hill Park with 75,000 tulips, as well as Parliament Hill.
In the fall of 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Canadians (represented by Ottawa) with 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift was given in recognition of the role which Canadian troops played in liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation and the hospitality shown by Ottawans when the Dutch Royal Family took refuge in the city during the war. This continuing gift of tulips from Dutch royalty started what has now become the largest tulip festival in the world. More than three million tulips bloom in the region each year. |
