The Canadian Tulip Festival has filed for bankruptcy protection against an estimated debt of up to $800,000.

The festival, which offers concerts, exhibits, a parade and other events, blankets the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau with millions of colourful tulips each May. It has an annual budget of $1.5 million to $1.8 million.

Organizers of the Canadian Tulip Festival blame their troubles on cold, rainy May weather that has hurt attendance in recent years.
(Canadian Tulip Festival)

Claude Gingras, a bankruptcy trustee for the festival's board of directors, said the board's president filed for bankruptcy on Thursday. Organizers have asked for at least 30 days to reorganize their finances and come up with a plan to satisfy creditors.

He says he hopes that happens soon, as a new group of investors is looking to relaunch the festival next year.

"We still think there is about $800,000 worth of debt," Gingras said. "This must be resolved before the new group can and will take over."

He said the board of directors must act quickly because planning and sponsorship of the next festival must get underway if there is be a spring festival. 

But a 2007 festival will likely not happen if the organizers cannot come up with a plan that the creditors approve, Gingras said.

The festival has faced financial troubles because of low attendance the past four years. Organizers say cold, wet weather during May is to blame.

In April, the City of Ottawa propped up the festival with $75,000 in emergency funding.

The festival has been held each year since 1953 to commemorate a gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs given to Canada by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands at the end of World War II.

The queen wanted to thank Canada for keeping Holland's exiled royal family safe at Ottawa's Government House during the war, and to recognize the role Canadian troops played in freeing the Netherlands from German occupation.