Thousands come out for last day of Canadian Tulip Festival on Victoria Day
CTV
Thousands came out for the final day of the Canadian Tulip Festival on Victoria Day
Artist Johanne Richer never knows when inspiration will hit, but when she's surrounded by tulips at Commissioners Park in Ottawa, she doesn't have to look far.
"When I came in this morning I said, 'Okay where am I going to go?' My eyes are not big enough to capture the beauty of the nature," Richer said.
Richer joined the thousands that came out for the final day of the Canadian Tulip Festival, trying to capture that perfect picture on a hot, sunny Victoria Day.
"It’s a beautiful day out with the family," said Peter Bahraini. "It’s a long weekend, so it’s a perfect opportunity to visit the Tulip Festival."
Organizers say last year’s festival brought in half a million visitors and this year, they’re expecting that number to grow.
"We’ve probably seen a few tens of thousands more than we did last year, it’s been a great bloom, we’ve had some great shows, and we’ve met people from all over the world," said the festival's organizer, Jo Riding.
The tulips are a staple of the spring season in Ottawa, but funding cuts meant changes to this year’s programming, including new self-guided tours, swapping fireworks for a drone show and relying heavily on volunteers.
