The Canadian Tulip Festival Or The Ottawa Tulip Festival

Ranked #6,043 in Travel & Places, #168,839 overall

Spring Really Blooms Each Year at The Canadian Tulip Festival!

The Canadian Tulip Festival (sometimes called the Ottawa Tulip Festival) has become the world's largest tulip festival and takes place in May each year with more than three million tulips in bloom. It runs for three weeks every spring and this year, Ottawa expects more than 500,000 people will visit to enjoy the flowers and all of the festival activities.

The tulip has become a symbol of the friendship between Holland and Canada. This friendship began more than fifty years ago when the Dutch people gave Ottawa a gift of tulips as a thank you for providing a safe haven to members of the Dutch Royal Family during the Second World War and for the part that Canadian soldiers played in helping to liberate Holland from the Nazis. Read more about the history of this enduring friendship at A Bloom of Friendship.

The gift of tulip bulbs has become a beloved tradition and today, the celebration is bigger and better than ever.
 

This quintessential photograph of the
tulip festival was taken by Benito78.

One Tulip Is The Wrong Color

Amazing that just ONE tulip is the wrong color.

Canadian Tulip Festival Video

This 2008 video will give you a general idea of what you might expect at the Canadian Tulip Festival.

Tulip Festival 2008 Tv Commercial
by tulipfestival | video info

0 ratings | 466 views
automatically generated by YouTube

Previous Tulip Festival Themes

  • 1994 A Tribute to the Origin Country of the Tulip - Turkey
  • 1995 The Friendship That Flowered, the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Holland
  • 1996 Floral Tribute to Nice
  • 1997 Floral Artistry of Japan
  • 1998 A Celebration of Canada's Provinces and Territories
  • 1999 Between Friends
  • 2000 Tulips 2000: A Capital Celebration!
  • 2001 Tulips Forever! A Salute to Britain
  • 2002 Tulipmania! 50th Anniversary
  • 2003 G'day Australia - Tulips Down Under
  • 2004 Canada's Tulip Experience
  • 2005 A Celebration of Peace and Friendship
  • 2006 Tulips 2006 - World Flower Rendezvous!
  • 2007 "CelebrIDÉE A Celebration of Ideas" inaugural year


World famous photographer Malak Karsh is widely know for his photographs of the tulips and was instrumental in the establishment of the Canadian tulip festival.

The Canadian Tulip Festival Concerts Helped Create Some Well Known Music Artists

Some of the artists who have performed at the Canadian Tulip Festival concerts include Liberace who performed an opening concert in 1972, Alanis Morissette who made her first appearance when she was just 12 year sold in 1987, The Trews who opened for Big Sugar in 2003 and General Rudie who performed early in their musical careers in 2000. These 'free' concerts were both entertaining and career building for budding new artists. They proved to be great exposure. However, the concerts have been difficult because of the unpredictability of springtime weather in Ottawa.

The music man shown in this picture by azzaelea was part of the fun but obviously not one of the concert performers!

Official Information About The Tulip Festival

Canadian Tulip Festival 2008 Official Site
Canadian Tulip Festival May 2 to 19, 2008. The largest tulip festival in the world. Millions of tulips will bloom in May of 2008 in Canada's scenic Capital Region creating an exotic mosaic of colour and beauty.
Canadian Tulip Festival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Canadian Tulip Festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, with attendance of over 500,000 visitors annually.[1] This major cultural event is held annually in Ottawa and Gatineau, Canada, over the course of 18 days in May, concluding with the Victoria Day long weekend.
Canadian Tulip Festival: Back in bloom | poweredByProfit | Canadian Business Online
Straying from its roots in the name of growth, the Canadian Tulip Festival almost died. It's blossoming again - but only after some strategic pruning.
Canadian Tulips Festival - 360 Cities
Explore high resolution panoramic photography of 'Canadian Tulips Festival' on 360 Cities. This will put you in a bed of tulips, literally. I have never seen anything quite like this...and the tulips are magnificent! When you visit, make sure you choose to make the screen 'full screen' and note that you can also visit other Ottawa sites in a 360 panoramic view.

The Canadian Tulip Festival In The News

Mobile Application for iPhone Allows Canadian Tulip Festival Visitors to ...
The Canadian Tulip Festival (www.tulipfestival.ca) announced today that it has partnered with Purple Forge to create a mobile application for iPhones that allows users to create postcards on-the-fly by selecting their own stamps, themes and photographs ...
Tulip Festival going 'back to its roots'
... Jim Watson and Laura Carr, the creator and artist of the 60th anniversary commemorative painted tulip sculpture unveil the painted tulip during the opening ceremony for the 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition of the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Ottawa Tulip Festival blooms
The Canadian Tulip Festival broke ties with the NCC for the first time in 59 years, citing prohibitive costs as the reason why they pulled out of Major's Hill Park. The issue at hand was the $35000 performance bond the NCC was asking for, ...

President Barack Obama's Tulip

During the festival you can see the artist, Jill Alexander at work in the tulips downtown.

The Canadian Tulip Festival presented a very unique gift in the form of a 5 foot tall wooden tulip to President Obama on the occasion of his historic first visit to Canada on February 19, 2009. Large wooden tulips are a beautiful tradition of the festival. This one will represent President's Obama's messages -- Hope, Change, and Yes We Can. It will also have his face in profile and other national U.S. symbols on it. This particular tulip is the work of Canadian artist Jill Alexander.

Photobucket
Jamie Kronick.

An Artist At Work Painting Tulips

Artist In Residence 1
Photo by dugspr.

The Canadian Tulip Festival Blogs

Here is a chance to read what other people are writing about the tulip festival.

Mobile Application for iPhone Allows Canadian Tulip Festival Visitors to ...
The Canadian Tulip Festival (www.tulipfestival.ca) announced today that it has partnered with Purple Forge to create a mobile application for iPhones that allows users to create postcards on-the-fly by selecting their own stamps, themes and photographs ...
Tulip Festival going 'back to its roots'
... Jim Watson and Laura Carr, the creator and artist of the 60th anniversary commemorative painted tulip sculpture unveil the painted tulip during the opening ceremony for the 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition of the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Ottawa Tulip Festival blooms
The Canadian Tulip Festival broke ties with the NCC for the first time in 59 years, citing prohibitive costs as the reason why they pulled out of Major's Hill Park. The issue at hand was the $35000 performance bond the NCC was asking for, ...

A Bloom of Friendship

The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival by Anne Renaud

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The 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Tulip Festival (2002)

Canada Post produced these postage stamps to honor the anniversary.

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A Good Ottawa Travel Guide

I trust Frommer's for all of my trips so I feel comfortable recommending their Ottawa guide to you, although I have not seen it.


Click here to buy Frommer's Ottawa 2009 Edition from Amazon
$13.59

This is the fourth edition which will be available March 20, 2009. You can pre-order the 2009 version now by clicking on the previous link or you can order the last version now by clicking here if you need to make your travel plans right away!

Baby Girl - Discovering / Découverte
Picture by Microcontroleur.

Have you everseen the tulips at the Canadian Tulip Festival?

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The Netherlands Headquarters

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Did you enjoy this visit to the Canadian Tulip Festival?

  • John_Michael Nov 20, 2011 @ 8:05 am | delete
    I had visited Ottawa a couple of times and learned of this tradition. It would be nice to go back
  • ohcaroline Mar 17, 2011 @ 9:26 am | delete
    Thanks for sharing about the festival....I'm leaving you a Lucky Leprechaun Blessing.
  • awelldressedbullet Feb 28, 2011 @ 5:04 pm | delete
    ~ Blessed by a Squidoo Angel of the Travel Canada neighbourhood ~
  • awelldressedbullet Feb 11, 2011 @ 1:03 pm | delete
    Thank you Brenda ~ Blessed by a Squidoo Angel of the Travel Canada neighbourhood ~
  • Koupie Feb 10, 2011 @ 8:01 am | delete
    I love tulips too, a friend just gave me a bunch and I spent many happy hours taking photos of them. I believe the Royal Botanical Gardens here has a festival, I must make a note to go :)
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