May 10, 2018
Brendan Shykora, Ottawa Citizen
The 66th annual Tulip Festival will be in full bloom this weekend. Close to one million tulips of 100 varieties will brighten flower beds around Ottawa and Gatineau.
This year, expect to see plenty of light, creamy yellow. The May 11-21 festival will showcase the “World Friendship” tulip, developed by Marcel Lenard from France in 1988. As the name suggests, its colour symbolizes friendship, and 30,000 of them will be on display throughout the festival’s 30 locations.
The most extravagant display can be found in Commissioner’s Park, where more than 250,000 tulips fill the park’s 30 flower beds.
Flower-gazers can also look forward to some new additions to this year’s festivities.
The festival’s four main locations — Dow’s Lake, Lansdowne Park, the ByWard Market and the Garden Promenade — will all host events and activities.