From Oak Bay to Ottawa, via Kingsbrae Garden and the VIA Rail Garden Route
All summer, visitors to the magnificent Kingsbrae Garden in the little town of St Andrews by-the-Sea, NB have posted ballots, hopeful of winning the annual trip offered by the VIA Rail Garden Route contest. At the same time, visitors to the other 17 public gardens across Canada have been likewise dreaming of the soothing clickety-clack on a VIA 1 deluxe trip to see the fabulous Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, in May of 2011. Communities in Bloom have climbed on board to make the whole promotion even more exciting–and beautiful!
From the thousands of ballots submitted, visitor Cindy Needler of Chamcook, NB drew Dorothy Devlin, of Oak Bay, New Brunswick as the lucky winner at Kingsbrae Garden. Efforts to get in touch with Devlin since the draw in early September were unsuccessful, but it turns out she loves to travel and only returned home Saturday night, September 25. Dorothy will have plenty of time to pick her wardrobe for this next trip, with a winter to dream of eye-popping spreads of over 3 million flawless Dutch tulips, which will soon be nestled in their beds along the canal and elsewhere through Canada’s Capital City.
The prize packages consist of VIA One class round trip for two people to Ottawa to see the Canadian Tulip Festival in May 2011, three meals included, plus three nights accommodation in Ottawa, courtesy of the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Now in its 58th year, the Festival attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to Ottawa. As noted on the Festival website: “The Canadian Tulip Festival has grown into the largest Tulip Festival in the world from a gift of International Friendship given six decades ago. In the fall of 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift was given in appreciation of the safe haven that members of Holland's exiled royal family received during the Second World War in Ottawa and in recognition of the role which Canadian troops played in the liberation of the Netherlands.
The event, which grew from the Dutch gift of friendship, has become the world's largest Tulip Festival and Ottawa, with its Official Flower – the Tulip, has become the Tulip Capital of the North America.”
If you've never been in Ottawa at 'tulip time', you should treat yourself–it's a glorious sight. And what better–or more Canadian–way to travel, than by rail? For those who didn’t win one of the 18 prizes generously offered by VIA Rail and the Canadian Tulip Festival, there are plenty of tickets to be bought and the ride will be almost as sweet. Plus, there is always next year to enter the annual VIA Rail Garden Route contest at any of the 18 participating gardens, from Halifax to Victoria.
