Commissioners Park is a park in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada. It lies within the westernmost section of

The Glebe The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Ottawa's downtown area in the Capital Ward. According to the Glebe Community Association, the neighbourhood is bounded on the north by the Queensway, on the ...

, bounded by

Dow's Lake Dow's Lake in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is a small man-made lake on the Rideau Canal, situated two kilometres north of Hog's Back Falls in the middle of Ottawa. It is at the south end of Preston Street, just south of Carling Avenue, and just to th ...

, Preston Street,

Carling Avenue Carling Avenue is a major east–west arterial road in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from March Road in Kanata to Bronson Avenue in the Glebe. The road is named for John Carling, founder of Carling Brewery and Conservative M ...

and Dow's Lake Road. Throughout the warmer months it is a popular place for family walks. The

National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; french: Commission de la capitale nationale, CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), i ...

maintains the park and manages to keep flowers blooming there throughout the growing season. During the annual

Canadian Tulip Festival The Canadian Tulip Festival (french: Festival Canadien des Tulipes; nl, Canadees Festival van de Tulp) is a tulip festival, held annually in May in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, displaying o ...

, it is a major

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

viewing area with the highest concentration of tulips in the region numbering as many as 300,000.

History

1945: Gift from HRH Juliana

What is now known as the Canadian Tulip Festival at the park was originally a gift of 100,000 tulips given in 1945 by Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, as she then was known, to mark Canada's contribution to the liberation of the Netherlands from the Nazi occupation and "as thanks to Ottawa for sheltering her family during the war."

2002: ''Man with Two Hats'' sculpture

It features a sculpture ''Man with Two Hats'' by , commemorating the liberation of Holland by Canadian troops during World War II, which is identical to the National Canadian Liberation Monument in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...

, the Netherlands. An explanatory plaque contains the following text: :''During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Canadian soldiers played a crucial role in the liberation of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. With the donation of this monument - an expression of joy and a celebration of freedom - the Netherlands pays lasting tribute to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.'' :''A statue identical to this one stands in

in the Netherlands. The twin monuments symbolically link Canada and the Netherlands; though separated by an ocean, the two countries will forever be close friends.'' :'' Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveiled the monument in Ottawa on May 11, 2002, and the other in Apeldoorn on May 2, 2000.'' :''Artist: Henk Visch''

References

External links

* {{coord, format=dms, display=title, region:CA-ON National Capital Commission Parks in Ottawa World War II memorials in Canada Canadian military memorials and cemeteries