New Rochelle Celebrates Bastille Day Friday

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From the City of New Rochelle:

In celebration of New Rochelle's founding by the Huguenots over 320 years ago, the New Rochelle Sister City Committee will present a Bastille Day flag-raising ceremony on Friday July 13 at 10 a.m. The event will take place in front of City Hall. Bastille Day, the French national holiday recalling the storming of the French king’s political prison, recognizes the French Revolution as direct result of the lessons learned in the American Revolution and expounded in the Declaration of Independence.

The ceremony includes greetings by Mayor Noam Bramson, a talk by James S. Kaplan, Esq., Attorney-at-Law and Sister City Committee member, “Marquis de Lafayette: The French Aristocrat and Important Founder of American Democracy”, and a brief note on “Why We Celebrate Bastille Day” by Peter A. Korn, of the Sister City Initiative.  Celebrants and guests will witness the raising of the tri-color of theFrench Republic and sing, “La Marseillaise”, the French national anthem, and "The Star Spangled Banner."

Mr. Kaplan will discuss how Lafayette’s experience in the American Revolution and his close relationship to Washington influenced his subsequent efforts to bring democracy to France, and the close relationship between democratic movements in the two countries. Even today, Lafayette remains a hero in his two countries.

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Also at the event, the 325th Anniversary Committee will announce the winners of the logo design competition for banners to be placed throughout the City for 2013. “The competition attracted many enthusiastic and diverse entries,” noted Chairperson Marianne Sussman. “We are excited that from among such a qualified field, the jury was able to select winners that truly exemplify the spirit of our 325th.”  The 325th anniversary celebrates the arrival of the French Huguenots from La Rochelle in 1688 and the subsequent “tides of immigration” whose cultures have shaped New Rochelle as the dynamic and vital suburban city it is today.

The Bastille Day ceremony is presented by the Sister City Initiative, which seeks to deepen the 324-year bond of friendship between New Rochelle and La Rochelle, France, home of the founding Huguenots. A light reception in the Rotunda will take place immediately following the event.

Following the Bastille Day ceremony, on the evening of July 13 the New Rochelle Jazz Fest will kick off its third big year at downtown venues. The event will continue with performances on Saturday and Sunday outdoors on Library Green.

For further information:

New Rochelle Sister City Committee, Convener Peter Korn sistercitynr@gmail.com

325th Anniversary Committee www.newrochelleny.com/325

New Rochelle Jazz Festival  www.newrochellejazzfest.org

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CORRECTION: This article has been modified from its original version to correct the date on which the event will occur.