The return of the Marquis de Lafayette to Fayetteville in March 2025 will be held with great fanfare throughout the town. Lafayette came to Fayetteville in 1825, as part of his farewell tour throughout the United States. A Revolutionary War hero who hailed from France, Lafayette only ever visited one town named after him: Ours!
To mark the bicentennial of his tour, the national organization of The American Friends of Lafayette in conjunction with the local Lafayette Society plans to hold lectures, speeches, a ball, and a procession through downtown Fayetteville. The two-day event will be held March 4 and 5. In the meantime, however, the Lafayette Society has been working to garner even more interest within our community.
In September, the Society hosted its 17th Annual Lafayette Birthday Celebration. Events included lectures with authors, a guided trolley tour in downtown Fayetteville with coffee and croissants, and a birthday party.
Last month, the Society held a dance workshop with Charles Steplively, a dance master who led attendees through traditional 1800s dances. More workshops will be scheduled throughout January for those who wish to learn the historical steps before the Lafayette Ball in March.
These events, and others held this year, are all part of the bigger picture: Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the visit of the Marquis to our area. And the Society isn’t stopping there. In an effort to encourage and promote excellence in local creative expression, they are asking members of the community to submit short films celebrating the principles of Lafayette: liberty, human rights, equality, religious tolerance and the abolition of slavery.
The competition is open to current Cumberland County and Fort Liberty residents and students. The video should be under 4 minutes in length and should be a PG-13 rating or lower.
Submissions must be hosted on YouTube, with a direct link provided with the submission form. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 10, 2025. The first place winning video will receive $750, second place will win $300, third place will win $100.
To see the full list of rules and to get a submission form, visit www.lafayettesociety.org/creativity
The winning films will be shown during the Lafayette Society’s annual member luncheon on March 2, 2025. Winning poems from the poetry contest, now closed, will also be read aloud. To become a member of the Society, or to learn more about Lafayette and his enduring legacy on our city, visit www.lafayettesociety.org.