NEW ROCHELLE, NY — In celebration of New Rochelle’s founding by the Huguenots 326 years ago, the New Rochelle Sister City Committee will present a Bastille Day ceremony on Monday July 14 at 10 AM. The event will take place in front of City Hall. This French national holiday, recalling the storming of the king’s political prison, recognizes the French Revolution as a result of the lessons learned in the American Revolution and expounded in our Declaration of Independence.
The ceremony includes greetings by Mayor Noam Bramson, a short talk by James S. Kaplan, Esq., Attorney and Sister City Committee member, “Ties that Bind: France, Lafayette and James Monroe”, and a brief note on “Why We Celebrate Bastille Day” by Peter A. Korn, Committee convener. Celebrants and guests will witness the raising of the tri-color of the French Republic and join in singing, “La Marseillaise” and “The Star Spangled Banner”.
Mr. Kaplan will discuss how the revolutionary concepts enshrined in Bastille Day created turmoil, but linked America with those French who participated in the American Revolution
and the saving of their lives.
Guests attending will be Pierrick Dubreuil, 18, and Hugues Sarrat, 15, trumpet players sent by the La Rochelle Rotary Clubs, who also played Saturday and Sunday, July 12-13, outdoors on Library Green at the New Rochelle Jazz Fest.
The Bastille Day ceremony is presented by the Sister City Initiative, which seeks to deepen the 326-year bond of friendship between New Rochelle and La Rochelle, France. A light reception in the Rotunda will take place immediately following the event.