Canadian Tulip Festival planning in-person events this spring

Tulips in bloom at the Canadian Tulip Festival are seen in this undated photograph. (Photo credit: Janna Glenn, courtesy of the Canadian Tulip Festival)

You'll be able to tiptoe through the tulips in person this year as the Canadian Tulip Festival celebrates its 70th anniversary.

The annual festival in Ottawa commemorating Canada's role in the liberation of the Netherlands in the Second World War was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers are planning several in-person events this year for the platinum jubilee.

"We all need to have something fun and something free," said festival organizer Jo Riding on Newstalk 580 CFRA.

The festival will have a mixture of free and paid events. It won't cost anything to visit Commissioners Park at Dow's Lake to see the tulips, and the festival doesn't end as the sun sets. New this year is a nighttime event illuminated by blacklight.

"All along the Dow's Lake boardwalk, we're going to see tulip planters that are lit up in UV light," said Riding. "You may ask yourself why. The answer is because that's how the pollinators see them. When all the butterflies and bees do their work, that's how they see the tulips."

The festival is also working with the National Film Board and will be screening movies in the evenings.

"Every night, free movies beginning at 8 o'clock in the park. Bring a blanket, bring a snack, or enjoy something from the food truck," Riding said.

Some of the paid events include daily tulip bingo, at $5 per card, and a $20-per-person nighttime guided tour called "Ghosts of the Glebe."

"That one talks about some of the soldiers that left to go fight for our freedom and left right from the festival area and didn't return," Riding explained. "We tell those stories while we commemorate our 70 years, the original gift of tulips and the reason for that."

The parking lot at Dow's Lake will be closed to the public due to The Ottawa Hospital's new Civic Campus development, but the festival has made arrangements for a "tulip trolley" shuttle service to Commissioners Park that will make stops at the Westin hotel, the National Gallery of Canada, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier and the Lord Elgin Hotel.

The 2022 Canadian Tulip Festival runs from May 13 to 23. Virtual programs will still be available. More information can be found at www.tulipfestival.ca as the festival nears.