Even though the winds picked up pace and it was drizzling, SES Grade 5 students made their way to the museum on Thursday, May 5 to see the tulips they had planted last year in bloom.
The tulips were a part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Garden.
Last Thursday was also the anniversary of Liberation Day in Netherlands, so quite the appropriate occasion for a tulip blooming ceremony.
"The Town of Stettler was one of more than 400 applicants across Canada to receive 700 tulip bulbs to commemorate the long-standing friendship between the Netherlands and Canada, which began during World War II," explained Grace Fix, vice-chair of Heartland Beautification Committee. "These bulbs were planted last fall at the Museum, in front of the Dutch windmill, and Mrs. Sandra Norman's Grade 5 students from SES being the official planters, with assistance from local Legion members, local Dutch-Canadian residents, Museum staff, Town Council, and the Heartland Beautification Committee."
During the brief ceremony, Heartland Beautification Committee member Grace Fix and students recounted the history of the enduring friendship between Canada and the Netherlands so that it may live on in the younger generation.
"It is indeed an honour to have this Friendship Tulip Garden in our community, and to be part of this heartwarming national program made possible by the Canadian Garden Council, Vesey's Bulbs and Canada Post, the main sponsors of the Friendship Tulip Gardens," added Fix.
On May 5, 1945, Canadian forces played a major role in the liberation of the Netherlands for which the Dutch people were and continue to be ever so grateful.
As well, during the war, the Dutch Royal Family sought refuge in Ottawa.
Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa and was able to retain her right to the throne as a Dutch-born citizen because Ottawa temporarily set up a wing of the Ottawa hospital as a Dutch Embassy, therefore, Dutch soil.
As a gift of gratitude, the Dutch sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in 1945.
Now, a gift-in perpetuity, Canada receives 20,000 tulip bulbs every fall.
Last fall, for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, 100,000 tulips bulbs were distributed amongst 140 communities across Canada.