Parking tickets bloomed on vehicle windshields in Ottawa’s Little Italy and Dow’s Lake neighbourhoods during the first weekend of the Canadian Tulip Festival. Bylaw Services is deploying additional officers to the area to monitor traffic, and ‘Special Event – No Stopping – Tow Away’ signs have been installed on area streets to protect emergency access routes as thousands of people check out the tulips. Officers issued 92 tickets to vehicles parked in the ‘Special Event – No Stopping Zones’ during the opening weekend of the festival, while an additional 17 tickets were issued between Friday and Sunday to vehicles parking in excess of the time limits on streets near the festival. “Bylaw and Regulatory Services would like to remind all visitors attending the festival to adhere to all parking regulations, including the posted temporary restrictions, which are put in place to ensure safe and mobility of traffic,” Jake Gravelle, Chief of Bylaw and Regulatory Services, told CTV News Ottawa. Parking restrictions are in place between Carling Avenue, Bronson Avenue, Queen Elizabeth Driveway and Preston Street during the Canadian Tulip Festival. Last year, Bylaw Services officers issued 1,416 parking tickets to vehicles illegally parked around the Tulip Festival. A total of 1,111 parking tickets were issued around Commissioners Park during the Canadian Tulip Festival in 2024.
