"When Lumber was King"

The theme was chosen to coincide with Ottawa's 150th birthday celebration. With the transition from Bytown to Ottawa, the city went from a brawling, bustling frontier town to an economic centre with the largest concentration of saw milling operations in the world. Many of the city's inhabitants in 2005 are descended from the workers and families who were associated with the lumber trade in the 19th and 20th centuries.