I was on a pho­tog­ra­phy hunt last Sat­ur­day when I heard some music com­ing from Major Hills Park, by the Par­lia­ment. I hur­ried there and stum­bled upon the Tulips Festival’s final week­end cel­e­bra­tions. The fes­ti­val is not just about gor­geous flow­ers, it also pro­motes inter­na­tional friend­ship and a num­ber of per­for­mances from around the world are invited to star on the aptly named “Inter­na­tional Friend­ship Stage”.

I walked as close to the scene as I could and hide dis­cretely on the side to take pic­tures. Egypt was per­form­ing and a num­ber of dancers, male and female, were mov­ing to the sound of the tam-tam and the tam­bourine. A cou­ple started danc­ing in front of the stage and the dancers left the stage to go mix with the crowd. The sur­prise on the face of the audi­ence was fun to cap­ture, but peo­ple quickly joined in a truly mul­ti­cul­tural party — the enthu­si­asm was con­ta­gious.

Yes, it’s a banal sen­tence, but aren’t peo­ple beau­ti­ful when they are happy together?

You can see the full set of the pic­tures taken dur­ing the 2010 Tulips Fes­ti­val here.

On Stage

Singer

Car­ring Incense

Drum­mer	In the Crowd
Wav­ing the Flag	Danc­ing with the Crowd
Make him Drink!	Leader of the Band
Por­trait	Por­trait
Lead­ing the Crowd	Appre­cia­tive Spectator

In the Crowd

Related posts:

1. Billy Tal­ent, Live
2. Pow Wow in Ottawa
3. Ottawa Busker Festival
4. Always Take The Weather With You
5. Ottawa’s Tulips Festival