The Canadian Tulip Festival has long signaled the return of spring and the start of Canada’s annual outdoor festival, concert, and event cycle. However, after pivoting to a completely virtual event within two months of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, festival organizers were understandably cautious when planning for the upcoming 69th edition of Ottawa’s longest-running, largest attended event.

With Ontario currently in a state of emergency and under a stay-at-home order, the festival’s executive director Jo Riding admits, “The safest way to enjoy the tulips this year is online. With the information provided by Ottawa Public Health, we knew to prepare for a third variant-based wave this spring and have done everything we can to bring the tulips to Ottawa, Canada, and the world.”

And while the tulips will continue to do as they do, unencumbered by COVID-19, during the May 14-24 event, flower fans will have to suffice with an immersive virtual experience at tulipfestival.ca, ranging from online walking tours with a live guide (daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m., cost: $10) to Tulip TV, which offers daily garden news, musical performances, history, education, and much more. There is also Tuliptoons for the kids, live-eye webcams, and plenty more.

Ottawa residents will still be able to see the tulips in real time at the festival site in Commissioners Park at Dow’s Lake, and any of the 30 public tulip gardens in the National Capital Region, but festival organizers urge that visitors wear a mask, go at non-peak hours, and follow social distancing guidelines while enjoying the flowers.

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