One of my favourite things in Ottawa is the annual Tulip Festival every May. After suffering through yet another Canadian winter, heading to Commissioner’s Park to take in the flowers feels like a rite of passage into spring.

A bit of history

The festival has been running since 1953 as a symbol of international friendship between Canada and the Netherlands; during the Second World War, Ottawa played host to the Dutch royal family (and declared part of the Ottawa Civic Hospital to be extraterritorial in order for Princess Margreit to be born a Dutch citizen. Canadian soldiers were the primary forces moving through the Netherlands and liberating them from Nazi occupation at the end of the war. Because of this, the Netherlands and Canada have a notable international friendship. In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100 000 tulip bulbs (a prominent symbol of the Netherlands) to Canada as a thank you gift for both hosting the royal family, and for their efforts in liberating the nation. The next year, a further 20 500 bulbs were sent in order to create a display for the Civic Hospital, with the promise of 10 000 bulbs each year in future. The Tulip Festival officially began in 1953, with the 10 000 bulbs from the royal family matched by the Dutch Bulb Growers Association. Currently, there are nearly 3 million tulip bulbs planted throughout the city in celebration of the Canadian Tulip Festival.

Our day at the festival

The Tulip Festival’s primary location is at Commissioner’s Park near Dow’s Lake. When my boyfriend and I got to the park, we were smack dab in the middle of the tents-and-information portion of the park, which was a great place to start. It’s kind of in the middle of the festival area, but the nearest entrance to the park would be on Dow’s Lake Road near the Kippewa or Madawaska intersections.

We headed first to the Heritage Tent, inside of which was a collection of information about the history of the Tulip Festival, as well as a small collection of antiques from the WW2 era. I loved perusing the antiques and seeing the setups of the 1940s/50s home.

They also had an interactive digital map showing the homes of Ottawa soldiers who did not come home from the war. I hoped that it would scroll to the other areas of the city so I could look at my neighbourhood, but it was limited to the Glebe area around Commissioners Park. Fair enough. Outside the Heritage Tent is a small stage set up for music. We saw a string quartet setting up for a musical performance, but we were leaving the area to go check out the tulips!

2019 has had a weird spring so far, fluctuating between hot and cold weather, and I think the lingering cool weather must be why many of the tulips hadn’t yet bloomed. I was a bit disappointed that a few of the beds were still green, but there were just as many beautiful flowerbeds full of blossoming tulips. A more positive outlook on this means that the tulips will be blooming over a longer period of time! Here’s a couple of my favourite shots of the flowers:

The park is also an amazing spot to dog watch! One of the highlights of my Tulip Festival visit was watching a small fluffy white dog straining against a small girl trying to pull his leash. Also some tiny dogs and some beautiful huskies… for me, dog watching was one of the best parts of visiting the park.

After going down to the end of the park and back and taking gratuitous photos of tulips, we were getting hungry so we headed back to the tent area of the park where we arrived. There’s a pretty good selection of food trucks at the festival. I opted for pad thai from the Green Papaya truck, which was amazing. If you’re not an Ottawa local or visiting from outside of Canada, I would recommend grabbing a Beavertail from their stall, because it’s a Canadian classic that is a Ottawa festival staple (originally sold on the Rideau Canal during Winterlude). We found a place to eat pretty quickly, but I was there on a Thursday and can imagine that it gets tough to find a place to eat during the weekend, when more people and families are checking out the festival.

Whether you’re an Ottawa local or visiting for the first time, the Canadian Tulip Festival is (in my opinion) always worth visiting. It’s free, it’s relaxed, it’s a great way to spend an afternoon outside, and it’s such a great way to get into the spirit of spring after the winter (even if it’s still a bit chilly in mid-May!). Check out more information on the festival’s official website. This year, the festival runs until May 20th, so there’s still a few more days to check out the festival, and the tulips will be there until they stop blooming in a few weeks or so.