Bourbonnais Sesquicentennial French Heritage Weekend--September 27-28, 2025

After the 9:00 am Opening Ceremony on Saturday September 27 at The Grove in Bourbonnais, individuals can visit with reenactors encamped near The Grove.  Food and drink vendors will be present both days.  In the afternoon at The Grove, reenactors will portray Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette.  Around 6:00 pm, also at The Grove, a French band LaCompagnia Dance Troupe from Monroe, MI, will perform French songs and dance.
At 7:00 pm “Hooray Bourbonnais II Deux: An Interactive Engagement with Bourbonnais History” will be performed on stage at The Grove.  This history pageant will cover Bourbonnais history from the 1600s to the present in a multi-media performance including slides, videos, historical portrayals, debates with rebuttals, the mayor’s presentation and remarks, and audience participation with singing, questions & answers.  A special appearance by Dr. George Godfrey, who is a Citizen Potawatomi, will present the Native American perspective at the beginning of the pageant.  Dr. Godfrey is a great great grandson of Watchekee and Francis Xavier Bergeron.
At 9:00 pm following the history pageant, dancers and singers from Starlight Dance Academy and Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School will perform respectively.
The 10:00 am Opening Ceremony at The Grove on Sunday September 28 will begin the visitor interaction with reenactors at their encampment.  The Closing Ceremony will be at 4:00 pm.
The whole weekend event is located at The Grove, 700 Main Street NW, Bourbonnais, IL, and is free and open to the public.  Please bring a lawn chair for the stage events.