Photo credit: East Town Association
One of the Bastille Days’ most popular features, the Storm the Bastille 5k run, will be hosted virtually this year.
The spirit of the Bastille has lived on in Cathedral Square Park since 1982 and Anne Leplae, executive director of Alliance Française Milwaukee, has spent many July 14 weekends over the years celebrating France’s national day by manning a booth. Although the Bastille Days festival is sponsored by the East Town Association, the Alliance Française is a natural partner in an event celebrating the wine, food and culture of France.
This year’s Bastille Days has been cancelled due to concerns about COVID-19, but the Alliance is moving their booth online, selling French-themed items over Facebook and with a sidewalk sale outside of their offices in Shorewood.
Though the communal atmosphere of the festival format is lost, Leplae is excited to expand access to those outside of the Milwaukee area.
“What happens when you do things online is you are no longer on-site, so it opens it up to people who are a little further or can’t get to a place… If they are in Green Bay, Madison, Colorado, or even further away they are able to participate,” she says.
One of the annual festival’s popular features, the Storm the Bastille 5k run, will be hosted virtually. Runners are asked to run independently anytime during the festival’s original dates and share pictures over social media. Leplae is excited to share this event with family who would not have been able to make it otherwise.
“I got t-shirts for my daughter in Chicago and my nephew in Madison so it [being online] opens it up for others,” Leplae says.
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Bastille Days has celebrated our region’s French connections, including the fur-trading voyageurs who traveled to Wisconsin from Quebec and Milwaukee’s first mayor, Solomon Juneau, who was of French-Canadian decent.
“Even though there is not a strong immigrant base there a strong French history in Wisconsin and Milwaukee,” Leplae says highlighting one of the reasons for the celebration.
For more information, visit afmilwaukee.org.
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