3 tips to achieve tulip bliss — without the stress — this long weekend
Tulip admirers, assemble! But maybe not all at the same time, OK?
This long weekend caps off the annual Canadian Tulip Festival at Commissioners Park in Ottawa. It's a beautiful space, resplendent in the bloom of variously coloured tulips — and a symbol of the enduring friendship between Canada and the Netherlands.
The 2025 edition has some cool new features like the Big Bug Boardwalk along Dows Lake. Over 2,000 tulips are lit up with UV lights and surrounded by giant bugs.
"You feel like you're shrunk down and you can see the pollen glow the way bees and butterflies see them," said the festival's executive director Jo Riding.
But the festival area can get crowded, and this weekend is a holiday.
To make the most of the occasion, without the stress, go to the park early if you can.
If that's not possible, consider the following three tips.
Take the O-Train
Parking near Commissioners Park is "very limited," according to the festival's website.
While Carleton University's P7 lot offers spots at a daily flat rate of $12 and is only an eight-minute walk to the park, you might consider hopping aboard OC Transpo's Line 2 instead. It practically deposits you right at the park.
Dow's Lake station is the second stop after departing Line 2's northern terminus at Bayview. Dow's Lake station is located just north of Carling Avenue, a straight diagonal line to the park.
Just ascend the steps at Dow's Lake station, cross Carling and then Preston Street, and you're in tulip heaven — two minutes faster than if you'd walked from Carleton, according to Google Maps.
You can always go downtown
This tip might sound counter-intuitive. After all, Commissioners Park is where it's at, right?
But if the park is too crowded, you could do worse than hopping back on the LRT. Transfer to Line 1 Bayview, head east to Lyon station and explore the many other tulip patches along Wellington Street.
The bright flowers abound between Library and Archives Canada and the Supreme Court, to name but one spot.
You could walk the pathway behind Parliament and picnic at Major's Hill Park, which boasts its own healthy helping of tulips (and is a good people- and dog-watching spot to boot).
Sure, there's no interactive walking tour like at Commissioners Park. But your step-counting app will thank you.
Escape to the country
Feeling adventurous? Hit the road.
An Ottawa couple whose "u-pick" tulip crop was badly damaged by a fungal growth has relocated this year to their nephew's farm.
Manja Bastian and Allan Groen of Green Corners Farm have planted 300,000 tulips at 640 North Russell Rd. in Russell, Ont., about 35 kilometres southeast of downtown Ottawa.
Losing half a million flowers last year was "emotionally wrenching," Groen recently told In Town and Out host Giacomo Panico.
Seeing people stream back this year has hit a different note.
"It's something that makes it all worthwhile for us," he said.
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