Vive la France!
Dancing in the streets, live music and traditional games marked festivities as bon vivants delivered the joie de vivre during the annual Bastille Day celebration in Brownstone Brooklyn.
The rollicking salute, coordinated by the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation, commemorated the destruction of the French Bastille in 1789 and hailed French-Americans – plus the honorary French – who have set up shops and residences in BOCOCA, a commercial and residential ribbon weaving its way through the neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, and home to the third largest French ex-pat population in the country.
A program of special attractions transformed the intersection of Smith and Bergen streets into a boulevard of neighborhood camaraderie – francais-style – as merrymakers enjoyed food tastings from a variety of local restaurants, and locked friendly horns over the traditional French ball game of pétanque, organized by Bar Tabac.
The restaurant also provided a traditional “Place Provencal” food court on Dean Street, accompanied by live Big Band music and street-dancing.
Fancy-footed revelers were in for a treat outside Homage, Smith Street’s skateboarding store, which presented a spectacular afternoon of skating demonstrations on the northern half of the Dean to Pacific block.
Area dining restaurant establishments lured visitors with menu samplings and showcases of local talent.
