Tulip festival blooms in Ottawa
Sat May 14, 2011 6:12PM
Hamed Mousavi, Press TV, Ottawa
You can find all the colors of a rainbow among the flowers of this year's Canadian Tulip Festival being held in Ottawa, with over fifty varieties of tulips creating a magnificent site.
The theme of this year's festival is 'kaleidoscope.' a celebration of spring through color, culture and community. The diversity of the flowers is a reminder of the multi-ethnic roots of Canadian society.
The festival goes back to 1945 when Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs in appreciation for Canada giving refuge to her family during World War 2.
Several years after the Dutch tulips arrived they became a strong attraction in Canada and the festival now in its 59th year has become one of the main tourism highlights.
There are over a million flowers here, making it the world's largest tulip festival, and people come from all over the world to see them.
People from all walks of life come to enjoy the sunny weather, snap photos of the flowers and spend time with their families.
The festival will host live concerts by various musicians in the coming days, until it wraps up on May 23rd.
