Festival celebrates this flower in a quaint Ontario town
Published May 8, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Move over cherry blossoms and tulips, this flower is also cause for celebration in Ontario.
Lilacs, a spring-blooming shrub, typically pink, purple or white and very fragrant, are celebrated in a two-day festival later this month.
The Warkworth Lilac Festival is on May 24 and 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Warkworth is a small community in the rolling hills of Northumberland, about 90 minutes east of Toronto, 40 minutes south-east of Peterborough and 80 minutes west of Kingston.
The annual festival on the last weekend in May features 83 different varieties of lilacs on the Millennium Lilac Trail. Many rare and beautiful lilacs of unique varieties have been planted strategically in beds along the trail.
In 2022, the Lilac Festival introduced the ‘Avalanche’ double-white lilac, created in honour of the Queen’s 70th Platinum Jubilee. And in 2017, the festival was honoured to receive a Canada 150 Garden Experience Award.
Visitors from all over Ontario attend the event, according to organizers.
In addition talking in the blooms on the trail, festivities include vendors, children’s activities, musicians and food service.
Learn more about the festival here.
View this post on Instagram
Lead photo: Valeria Boltneva