Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
LEWISTON—The Franco Center’s Parlez-Vous? French conversational club will meet Thursday, June 9, July 7 and 21 at the center, 46 Cedar St.
The club won’t meet Thursday, June 23, which is set aside for La Rencontre.
Club membership is free and is an opportunity for French speakers of all levels to get together and speak French. the club meets at 10:30 a.m. on every 
other Thursday (with some exceptions). To register for the French club, contact Jan Sullivan at 207-239-0063 or Joanne Ducharme at 207-713-8324.
La Rencontre will be held from 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. Cost of the event is $15, and the theme will be St.-Jean-Baptiste Day. St. Jean Baptiste Day was so widely supported in Lewiston and Auburn by the Franco community that two parades were held on the same day one year. The last float in the parade was always of a little boy dressed as a shepherd representing the patron saint of Canada. The last parade in Lewiston-Auburn for St. Jean Baptiste day was held in 1966.
Laurence Gagnon, from the Quebec Delegation in Boston, will be in attendance to offer a few words about St. Jean Baptiste.
La Rencontre, which translates to “the gathering,” is similar to an old-fashioned French-Canadian kitchen party with socializing, food and music. The 11:30 a.m. lunch will consist of chicken pot pie, coleslaw and whoopie pies, and will be followed by musical entertainment provided by Don and Cindy Roy.
Tickets for the June 23 event must be bought before noon on June 20. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and tickets can also be bought over the phone at 207-689-2000 or online at francocenter.org.
PHOTO:Roger Bouffard was the boy featured in the St. Jean Baptiste Day parade in Lewiston in 1953. Roger is pictured in this photo from the Lewiston Event Standard, which says he’ll represent St. Jean Baptiste as a shepherd boy and ride on one of the principal floats in the parade. Discussion of St. Jean Baptiste celebration, which hasn’t been held in Lewiston since 1966, will be featured at La Recontre June 23. (Submitted photo)
