Some of Ottawa’s favourite festivals will have plumper pocketbooks after the province announced the recipients of a festival and events funding program in the capital yesterday.
Eighteen area festivals, including the Canadian Tulip Festival, the TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival and Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest will be sharing more than $1.5 million as a part of the $11-million 2009 Celebrate Ontario program.
“I always think of Ottawa as a place of festivals,” said Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith.
“Festivals are important economic engines and we need people to know how important they are to the economy,” she said.
Ontario is home to more than 2,500 festivals and events, said Smith. Out of 514 applicants, 224 events were chosen to receive funding.
Festivals “fill our restaurants, hotels and bed and breakfasts,” said Ottawa-Vanier MPP Madeleine Meilleur.
Other Ottawa festivals receiving funding include the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival, the Vietnamese Cultural Festival, the Odawa Festival of Aboriginal Culture, the Ottawa International Children’s Festival, Festival franco-ontarien, the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival, the Rideau Canal Festival, the Ottawa Folk Festival and the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
