Canadian Tulip Festival outlines commemorative 2012 program
60th edition highlights include return of the Dutch Café, music in the streets with “Capital Sounds”, international cultural programming, Celebridée, The Great Canadian Treasure Hunt, a commemorative digital media retrospective, and a free Passport!
OTTAWA, March 28th, 2012 – The Canadian Tulip Festival today outlined program plans for the 2012 60th commemorative edition that will run from Friday May 4th to Monday 21st. As it marks the 60th year of its enduring history, the Festival plans to showcase a time capsule of its past and celebrate its deeps roots in the community.
The main Festival events will take place in the Byward Market, Little Italy, Chinatown and other popular, core business areas. From music in the streets, to the Great Canadian Tulip Treasure Hunt, a Mad Hatter Tea Party on Mother’s Day, the International Pavilion, a kick-off party on May 4th and a Commemorative 60th anniversary Garden Party for the international community at “Blue Gables”, a former residence of the Dutch Royals in Canada during the Second World War, this year’s commemorative edition promises something to delight visitors and residents alike!
“This year is not only a big milestone anniversary for the Festival but one in which it returns to its roots through programming and pageantry in the streets so that local businesses benefit more from the extensive visitor traffic,” said David E. Luxton, volunteer Chair of the Festival. “This was the idea and operating model when the Ottawa Board of Trade, now the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, established the Festival back in 1953 under the inspiration of Canada’s iconic tulip photographer, Malak Karsh.”
Tulip festival to bloom throughout city
By Jordan Fallis, Centretown News
The Canadian Tulip Festival will abandon the NCC this year, teaming up with downtown business communities to stage festivities in restaurants, parks and on the streets.
Typically, the festival hosts events at Major’s Hill Park and Commissioner’s Park every May. But this month, organizers announced that future programming would not take place on NCC parkland – where one million tulips are still set to bloom this spring – but at various business areas across the city.
The unexpectedly high cost of hosting events on the parkland is why the festival ended their 59-year relationship with the NCC, says David Luxton, volunteer chair and financial patron of the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Read more: Tulip festival to bloom throughout city
It’s full bloom ahead for tulip festival, $350,000 Ontario grant comes through
By Tony Lofaro, Ottawa Citizen
The Canadian Tulip Festival is moving ahead with plans for its 60th anniversary edition after receiving word Wednesday that a final piece of funding has come through.
David Luxton, volunteer chair and financial patron of the festival, said he was buoyed by the fact a Celebrate Ontario grant of $350,000 has been awarded to the festival. The festival had earlier received assurances that funding was coming from the City of Ottawa and the department of Canadian Heritage, but was waiting on news from the Ontario government.
Read more: It’s full bloom ahead for tulip festival, $350,000 Ontario grant comes through
Hotel searching for Tulip Festival marketing
[Source: CBC News]
Businesses rely on festival’s tourists to fuel local economy during May
The Canadian Tulip Festival’s 60th anniversary is already set to break tradition, but the local hospitality industry is also worried the event has not advertised enough for the 2012 event.
This year’s festival will not hold any events on National Capital Commission land, which is where the tulips created a picturesque view along the Rideau Canal at Dow’s Lake.
Organizers have said, instead, they are making arrangements with local business improvement areas. Other businesses told CBC News they have not heard a peep about plans for the two-week festival that begins May 4.
Read more: Hotel searching for Tulip Festival marketing
Canadian Tulip Festival announces change of venue to community business locations, new Tulip Legacy initiatives
The Canadian Tulip Festival, which celebrates its 60th Edition this Spring from May 4th – 21st, today updated its stakeholders and supporters on plans to facilitate long-term sustainability, enlarge program offerings for the visiting public and expand community engagement.
Change to community venues
The Festival announced that future programming and pageantry will be distributed throughout community locations instead of being concentrated at Major’s Hill Park, and will be done in collaboration with Business Improvement Area (“BIA”) organizations wherever possible.
“When the Board of Trade created the Festival in 1953 the idea was to animate the Capital in a way that created more economic value for local business,” said David E. Luxton, volunteer Chair and financial patron of the Canadian Tulip Festival. “I’ve been pleased to support the Tulip Festival for this reason, having seen independent studies showing that it generates tens of millions of dollars in economic value to the local economy every year. It makes sense therefore to see the Festival migrate to an operating model that creates even more value for local business by driving visitor traffic to their locations with programming attractions.”
Tulip Festival pulls up roots and leaves Major’s Hill Park
Tony Lofaro, The Ottawa Citizen
After 59 years, the Canadian Tulip Festival is leaving the NCC’s parks.
For the 60th anniversary festival, officials say their programming this spring will be staged at community sites around the city. The festival has had a long-standing partnership with the National Capital Commission and has used Major’s Hill Park and Commissioner’s Park, near Dow’s Lake, in the past.
Read more: Tulip Festival pulls up roots and leaves Major’s Hill Park
Tulip festival: A perfect Mother’s Day outing
Kelly Patterson, The Ottawa Citizen
It’s the ultimate Mother’s Day combo: Tulips, quilting, flower-arranging demos, sweet-voiced choirs and outdoor art. Even the glowering Ottawa skies held off from their daily deluge as hundreds of moms and their admirers turned out Sunday for the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Becky Cronin was emerging from a tent where a bizarre combination of ice carvers and flower-arrangers shared the stage before a rapt audience, in simultaneous but separate demonstrations of their crafts.
“It’s fantastic,” said Cronin, a bouquet of artfully arranged flowers over one arm. As her husband and son took off in the direction of the Lego booth, she remarked that “the ice carver had a chainsaw going, so I could get the boys to sit with me” while she watched the flower-arranging. “There’s no way they would have done that otherwise.”
Read the full article: Tulip festival: A perfect Mother’s Day outing
Tulip Ball stunning in its new locale
Caroline Phillips, The Ottawa Citizen
Photo courtesy of Caroline Phillips, The Ottawa Citizen
It’s hard not to get giddy when you walk into the brand new Ottawa Convention Centre, and even harder when you head up to the fourth-floor Trillium Ballroom to sip champagne and enjoy the panorama of the downtown, as did 400-plus guests of the sold-out 2011 Tulip Ball on Friday.
In the words of Canadian Tulip Festival chairman David Luxton, it’s “a million-dollar view.”
That’s not to say the sights of floral gowns and ice sculptures inside the ballroom weren’t also breathtaking. The black-tie dinner showcased elaborate floral ball gowns created by renowned floral artist Joel Marc Frappier and fashion designer Sylvie Bigras.
Read more: Canadian Tulip Festival: Tulip Ball stunning in its new locale
CLOSE TO ONE MILLION TULIPS TO BLOOM IN THE CAPITAL
Canada’s Capital Region - The National Capital Commission (NCC) is pleased to welcome the Canadian Tulip Festival to Commissioners and Major’s Hill parks, from May 6 to 23, 2011. The NCC provides the colourful displays of tulips found throughout the Capital Region.
Close to one million tulips, more than 50 varieties, will bring the NCC’s flower beds to life and offer a spectacular stage for the world’s largest tulip festival — the Canadian Tulip Festival.
NCC’S TULIP LEGACY EXHIBIT
Commissioners Park, May 6 to May 23, 2011
Visitors are invited to discover the events that led to the “Gift of Tulips” and the lasting friendship between Canada and the Netherlands through the Tulip Legacy exhibit and roaming interpretive guides. After the end of the Second World War, in recognition of the role Canadians played in the liberation of the country, as well as in gratitude for having sheltered Princess Juliana and her children during the war, the Dutch people sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada, with Princess Juliana adding 20,000 more. Since then, as a gesture of ongoing gratitude and friendship the Netherlands sends 20,000 bulbs to the Capital each year.
TULIPS AT THE NCC’S MACKENZIE KING ESTATE IN GATINEAU PARK
Beginning May 19, daily from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm (closed Tuesdays)
The Tearoom is open everyday from 11 am to 5 pm
William Lyon Mackenzie King was Prime Minister of Canada when Princess Juliana of the Netherlands sent a gift of thousands of tulip bulbs to the Canadian people to be planted in Canada’s Capital. Each spring, tulips also bloom at Mackenzie King Estate located in Gatineau Park. The historic buildings of the Estate, set among a unique collection of ruins and stunning gardens, will be open to the public beginning May 15, 2010.
While touring the Capital, visitors can pick-up a free copy of the brochure “Experience the Beauty! The National Capital Commission’s Tulip Beds”, which provides information on the tulip legacy story, maps out the location of key gardens and designated photo sites in some of the Capital’s most beautiful tulip displays, and recommends walking and cycling routes, with distances, to best enjoy the flowerbeds.
ABOUT THE NCC’S FLORAL PROGRAM
Each spring, close to one million tulips and 200,000 annuals planted by the NCC bloom on Parliament Hill, in Major’s Hill, Commissioners and Jacques-Cartier parks, as well as along Confederation Boulevard, the historic Rideau Canal, the Capital’s scenic parkways and recreational pathways, and in front of national museums and institutions. As the official gardener of Canada’s Capital, the NCC is responsible for the design and maintenance of many of the public gardens and the 90 flower beds found throughout the region. The most impressive display of tulips is found in Commissioners Park, where some 300,000 tulips bloom each year.
For more information on tulips, the public can contact the NCC at 613-239-5000, 1-800 465-1867, 613-239-5090 (TTY) or 1-866-661-3530 (toll-free TTY), or visit the website at www.canadascapital.gc.ca/tulips.
For information on the Canadian Tulip Festival, the public can visit the Festival’s website at http://www.tulipfestival.ca/.
Tulip artist has strong ties with this year’s themed flower
LJ Matheson, YourOttawaRegion
Photo by LJ Matheson, YourOttawaRegion
One of the five-foot, decorative tulips to pop up around Ottawa during Tulip Festival May 6 to 23 will portray the royal couple – Prince William and Kate Middleton – who will tie the knot on April 29 and will be visiting the Capital this summer.
“I saw Will and Kate on TV and thought that would make a great tulip theme,” said Alexander from her home near Bayshore. “I made the call and they (festival organizers) thought it was a great idea, and here we are.”
This will be her sixth tulip and one closest to her heart, as her own son will be married just two weeks after the royal couple. Alexander says it’s about portraying a legacy – a family heirloom of sorts.
Full story on YourOttawaRegion: Tulip artist has strong ties with this year’s themed flower
