Tulip Festival 2009 in Albany New York: a feast for the eyes

The 2009 Tulip Festival began today in Albany, New York, and it celebrates Albany's Dutch heritage with a fantastic display of many varieties of the country's famous flower.

There is also entertainment, vendors, crafts and food. 

Photos

Study In Yellow

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This is the 61st annual Tulip festival and it began with the traditional scrubbing of the streets, which readies the streets for the festival. This year the scrubbing was done by Albany High School students and Boy Scouts, who dressed in Dutch costumes and scrubbed the streets clean.

Videos

washington Park, Albany, NY Part I

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sourced by JeffHuang

The tulips are in Washington Park, and they have to be planted months in advance in order to bloom on this weekend. There are 209,000 of them in total. There are two varieties this year that are unique and rare, the Cool Crystal and the Manhattan variety, which has taken 20 years to develop.

The festival ends Sunday May 10 at 6pm.