Didn’t get your fill of independence on the Fourth of July? Worry not. Bastille Day is just around the corner, and promises a very French celebration in the streets of New York.
Bastille Day is the annual commemoration of the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789.
The main celebration, thrown by the French Institute Alliance Française this year on July 9, will take over 60th Street from Fifth Avenue to Lexington Avenue. The festivities will include a string of booths, dancing, live music and French-inspired eats.
Organizers expect upward of 40,000 people to come out and celebrate, according to Fanny Ostojic, the Bastille Day coordinator with FIAF.
“It’s a great opportunity to promote French culture in the U.S.,” Ostojic said. “It’s mostly Americans who come out, but it’s also a way for French people to reconnect with their culture if they haven’t in many years.”
This is also the first year that the festivities will include a French cinema component, which Ostojic hopes will attract even more people.
But the excitement won’t be limited to Sunday — the celebration has already started in some places and will continue into next week. The Bastille Day Ball will kick off at 6 p.m. at Club 404 on June 13.
French Restaurant Week, which runs through July 16, also offers New Yorkers a chance to wine and dine French-style.
