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This year’s Canadian Tulip Festival started May 10 and ran until May 20, with most of the action in Commissioners Park amid hundreds of thousands of tulips planted and tended to by the National Capital Commission.
The colourful beds commemorate the first gift of tulips bestowed by the Netherlands in 1945 as a symbol of gratitude for Canada’s support during the Second World War, and the festival has always paid tribute to this military history.
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Festivities at Commissioners Park started May 10, but the official kickoff took place the next morning with an opening ceremony that featured a CF-18 fly-over, music by the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces, a parade of Royal Canadian Air Cadets, a Griffon helicopter and a VIP-studded list of guests and dignitaries.
Eight days later, the 8:30 p.m. closing ceremony on May 19 featured the nightly sound-and-light show followed by an aviation-themed drone show instead of the traditional fireworks display that lit up the skies for decades.
Holiday Monday crowds gathered at Dow’s Lake to enjoy some of the last tulip blooms.
PHOTO GALLERY
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