Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Hart Dowd

May 12, 2006

Tulip Time In Ottawa

Hartson Dowd

thedowds@telus.net

If you have ever been in Ottawa at this time of year, you will have seen a spectacular sight on Parliament Hill.  Hundreds of thousands of tulips bloom each spring, and they are a reminder of our special ties to Holland.  During the Second World War, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands lived in Ottawa.  As a token of their appreciation for the safety of their future monarch, the Dutch people sent four million tulip bulbs to Ottawa.

OTTAWA FOR TULIP TIME

The celebration that Canada waits for all year, commemorating the kindness we extended to the Dutch Royal family during WWII. In appreciation for sheltering their new princess born in an Ottawa hospital, the Dutch sent thousands of gorgeous tulips. We have continued the project and now the capital blooms with stunning colour and festival spirit.

Canadian Tulip Festival
  Tulips 2006 – World Flower Rendezvous!  

May 4 to 22, 2006

Ottawa/Gatineau Canada’s Capital Region

Over three million tulips create an exotic mosaic of colour and beauty in Canada’s Capital Region, featuring over 20 Official Tulip and Attraction/Partner Sites along a 15km Tulip Route through Ottawa and Gatineau. The Canadian Tulip Festival, the largest tulip festival in the world, and Tulip Explosion, the Festival’s flower show, will host the XXIII Annual World Flower Council Summit from May 18 to 22 as part of the Tulip Explosion celebrations at the Casino du Lac-Leamy.

Weekends will rock the tulips at Major's Hill Park during the 2006 Canadian Tulip Festival. The overall Festival takes place from May 4 to 22 and will celebrate the theme "World Flower Rendezvous."

Canada has another Second World War tie with Holland.  On May 5th, German forces in the Netherlands, surrended to the Allies.  The Canadian Armed Forces played a huge role in the liberation.  People were starving when the Allies reached Holland, and it was the Canadians who brought food and freedom to most of the country just in time.

When Douglas How, a former war correspondent, returned to Holland in 1984 he said that "the liberation of Holland alone, it comes to me, may well be the most lasting and meaningful triumph in the history of Canadian Arms."

Dutch-Canadians celebrate Liberation Day each May 5th.

For many Canadian families whose loved ones gave their lives in the war, those tulips have a special meaning.

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   Hartson Dowd