14 July is the French Bastille day, simply called 14 Juillet or less commonly but more officially Fête nationale. Many cities hold fireworks during the night, says wikipedia. Many dancing parties are organised (bals du 14 juillet) and it is customary that firefighters organise them (bals des pompiers).
The day officially celebrates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, though it is often associated, even in France, with the Storming of the Bastille. Military parades, called Défilés du 14 juillet, are held on the morning of 14 July, the largest of which takes place on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic.
The parade opens with cadets from certain schools (École Polytechnique, Saint-Cyr, École Navale, and so forth), then other infantry troops, then motorised troops; aviation of the Patrouille de France flies above. It always ends with the much-cheered and popular Paris Fire Brigade. Traditionally, the students of the École Polytechnique set up some form of joke.
* Bastille Day also falls during the running of the Tour de France.
* New York has a large Bastille Day celebration each year on 60th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
* San Francisco has a large celebration downtown.
* Philadelphia's Bastille Day, held at Eastern State Penitentiary, involves Marie Antoinette throwing "cake", which are actually Twinkies, at the Parisian militia and a storming of the Bastille.
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Michael Parker had a special Bastille Day display of books at his booth at the Farmers' Market yesterday. You'd have been so proud.
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