Bastille Day Festival

France Education Northwest (FEN) is a non-profit organization founded by the French-American Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest. FEN’s goals are to familiarize local residents with French culture and traditions as well as to help French students come to Seattle in order to be part of this project.

Here are FEN’s main activities:

A l’Ecole—France at school : A team of both French and American volunteers visits elementary schools around the Puget Sound area to help children learn more about France. Students are invited to take part in a one-hour interactive presentation that encourages them to discover French history, traditions, monuments and gastronomy.

Bastille Day Festival : This annual Festival, held at the Seattle Center, celebrates the French National Holiday. During this 2-day celebration, people are invited to taste French food, attend free cooking demonstrations, listen to French music, and participate in several activities (raffle, French souvenirs, games…). This event is an ideal opportunity to meet with French and Francophile people while tasting gourmet cuisine and French wines. It is a very entertaining night – everybody is also invited to join in and dance to traditional French music.

Regional Dinners : Three to four times a year, we have our favorite French chef (also FEN President) Jacques Boiroux cook a delicious French dinner according to the season for 100-180 guests. The food is always perfect, the wine is chosen by our Chef himself, and the interns usually organize a little trivia about the Region of France celebrated during the dinner. These evenings are always a success, and the atmosphere is very jovial. For pictures of previous Regional Dinners, please click here.

Internship Program: To ensure the success of A l’Ecole and Bastille Day, FEN depends on the assistance of French interns. These students, who come from French business schools or universities, will live in Seattle and work full-time for the organization. It is imperative we have French interns who will bring their experience, culture and ideas to the organization. To cover the cost of travel and visas for interns, FEN relies on the income from its various fundraising efforts to support this program.