JOUR DE FETE

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Jour de Fete, only a small art show 30 years ago, has flowered into the largest arts and crafts fair in Missouri.

The reason, says Jour de Fete Inc. President Jack Trapp, is that the organizers have insisted on maintaining the arts and crafts atmosphere.

"On various occasions, people wanted to come in with rides and carnival-type things. We would not allow that," Trapp said.

"The crafters said they would not come back. It doesn't work, the two together."

This year's Jour de Fete will be held Saturday and Sunday in Ste. Genevieve. More than 600 craft and food booths along with a variety of entertainment and historical offerings are expected to draw a crowd of 30,000-40,000 during the two days.

"That's a big crowd for a town of 5,000," Trapp says.

The event was started to promote tourism. The non-profit corporation which runs it now pays the salaries of the employees at the 247-year-old town's tourist center, called the Great River Road Interpretive Center.

Jour de Fete now is the biggest money-maker for the town's civic organizations. "This is where they make their money to have their programs throughout the year," Trapp says.

Exhibitors will come from eight different states, while those who attend generally are drawn from a 75-mile radius.

Entertainers will roam the downtown historical district both days. Among them will be roving troubadour Al Bedford, French fiddler Pierre Boyer, folk singer Claire Condon, the Little French Singers and the Ste. Genevieve German Band.

Despite its obvious French Colonial influence, Ste. Genevieve never forgets that a heavy German immigration occurred during the mid-19th century as well.

Two of the town's pioneer families will be honored during this year's Jour de Fete. They are the French Papin family and the German Fallert family. Pictures of the families and genealogy charts will be found at the Project Pioneer Headquarters in the County Service Building on Market Street.

A detachment of French Marines from Fort de Chartres will be camped out near the Mammy Shaw House. Also performing will be the Great River Drum and Fife Corps.

The French Marines re-enact the life of the garrison as it would have been from about 1750 to 1765. The latter is the year the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Seven Years War and ceding all France's lands in the New World to England.

The Marines wear uniforms so authentic that they were used as models by the makers of the movie "The Last of the Mohicans," says Bill McKnight, a member of the French Marines.

"They are authentic uniforms, right down to the wool. And it gets warm in Ste. Genevieve in the summer," he said.

"One thing people are particular about is authenticity."

The French Marines will be encamped in tents of the type that would have been used in the mid-18th century. They also will fire replica Charleville muskets, which at the time they were manufactured were the finest weaponry in the world, McKnight says.

The first Jour de Fete was held in 1960 and the next not until five years later. The event has been held annually since 1966 with the exception of 1993, when the city was consumed with fighting the Mississippi River flood. At the time, some of the village's historic homes were nearly inundated.

Tours of some of those historic homes and a classic car show are among the events planned (See schedule).

Shuttle bus service will be offered on Parkwood Drive across from Pointe Basse Shopping Plaza on Highway 61 just south of the unction with U.S. 32. Round-trip tickets are 50 cents.

The shuttle will operate from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. both days.

Event schedule

Saturday

8 a.m. -- 5,000-meter race and 1-mile run, City Park Pool

10 a.m. -- Opening ceremonies, Great River Road Interpretive Center, Main and Market

5 p.m. -- Memorial Mass, Ste. Genevieve Catholic Church

All day Saturday and Sunday

Classic Cruisers' Car Show, Knights of Columbus Hall, 6th and Market

Historic Homes tour

Arts and Crafts Show, historic district

Holy Cross Lutheran Church tours, Second and Market.

Antique steam engine, S. Main

Birds of prey, Market at Main

Colonial crafts, Merchant at 2nd

Antique window displays, historic district

Project Pioneer, 255 Market

French Marines, Merchant at 2nd