Normandy provides holidaymakers all year long with events featuring music, arts, heritage, local traditions and more! While organizing your tour with Normandy American Heroes why not combine it with one of the numerous events we have chosen worthwhile for our guests to see?

JANUARY 2017

20 ^th – 22^nd: 'Les Puces Rouennaises', Rouen

The well-known antiques’ fair returns with over three hundred antique dealers

1^st anecdote: 30 May 1431, Joan of Arc nicknamed The Maid of Orléans is tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen and executed for heresy: she was burned at the stake. In 1456 Pope Callixtus III declares her a martyr. In 1909 she will be beatified then canonized in 1920. 

2^nd anecdote: Rouen was heavily damaged during World War II - approximately 45% of the city was destroyed. The city was liberated by the Canadians on 30 August 1944 after the breakout from Normandy.

29 ^th: International Human Rights Competition, Memorial of Caen

Lawyers from around the world will defend genuine cases of human rights violations

1^st anecdote: William the Conqueror who invaded England at the famous battle of Hasting, crowned King of England on Christmas day 1066 will die September 1087 in Rouen, is buried at the Abbaye des Hommes in Caen. The castle he built in Caen still stands today as well as the Tower of London built with the same stones of Caen!

2^nd anecdote: On D-Day, 6 June 1944, Caen was an objective for the 3^rd British Infantry Division and remained the focal point for a series of battles well into August. The old city with many buildings dating back to the Middle Ages was destroyed by Allied bombing & the fighting. The reconstruction lasted until 1962 above the rubbles!

FEBRUARY 2017

4 ^th - 5 ^th: 'La Saint-Pierre des Marins', Fécamp

Street parade and boat blessing

1^st anecdote: In the 19th century, the recipe for Benedictine liqueur was “rediscovered” by Alexandre Legrand. The Palais Benedictine now houses a visitors’ centre, which shows how the liqueur is made

2^nd anecdote: On the cliffs of Cap Fagnet, the German forces began in 1942 the construction of a battery of radars including the experimental model Radar FuMG 41/42 Mammut which was never operational, some still visible today.

24 ^th- 28^th Granville Carnival

Normandy’s longest running street carnival has just been added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

1^st anecdote: Home of the renowned designer Christian Dior, it is nicknamed the Monaco of the north by virtue of its location on a rocky promontory and beauty.

2^nd anecdote: In December 1944 four German paratroopers and a Naval cadet escaped from the prisoner camp, stole an American LCVP landing craft (Higgins barge!), and made their way back to the German occupied Channel Islands. Liberation of the islands arrived peacefully on 9 May 1945!

MARCH 2017

1^st - 5 ^th: International Circus Festival, Bayeux

During five days, Bayeux becomes the Circus capital of the world.

1^st anecdote: The tapestry of Bayeux listed Memory of the World by UNESCO is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 meters’ long. It depicts the events leading to the Battle of Hastings, fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson.

2^nd anecdote: Bayeux was the only city not destroyed by the allies’ bombardments in WWII on Dday. The medieval town center is often nicknamed by visitors as the Saint Louis district of the West.

4 ^th- 6 ^th: Plant and Tree Fair, Lisieux

Garden festival in the heart of Normandy

1^st anecdote: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux together with Saint Francis of Assisi is one of the most popular saints in the history of the church. Pope Pius X called her "the greatest saint of modern times. Thérèse is well known throughout the world, with the Basilica of Lisieux being the second-largest place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes.

2^nd anecdote: Lisieux experienced its first real Allied bomb attack during the evening of 6 June 1944. Some civilians were killed. Refugees took shelter during the period of devastation waiting the hour of deliverance, many of them placing themselves under the spiritual protection of Saint Thérèse. The city will finally be liberated August 23, 1944 by British troops.

18 ^th - 20 ^th: Annual Black Pudding Festival, Mortagne-au-Perche

Black pudding competition, eating contests, cooking demonstrations and art exhibitions

1^st anecdote: The Percheron is the most famous French breed of draft horses; some say its origin dates back to the VIII century. It originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray or black in color, Percherons are well muscled, and known for their intelligence and willingness to work.

2^nd anecdote: The appearance of the black pudding in the culinary tradition goes back to the most remote periods of France history. It is possible that the Moorish conquerors introduced it, as they crossed the Perche (establishing a camp on a hill then called Mauritania, known today as Mortagne). The black pudding filled the tables of the kings of France, and is known to have regaled the Tsar of Russia Peter the Great, on a visit to Versailles! The Caviar of the Perche!

20 - 26 ^th: Tour de Normandie

Cycle race starting this year in Bourg-Achard and ending in Caen

1^st anecdote: The Tour of Normandy is a road bicycle race held annually in the region. The race started in 1939, but was not held during WWII and between 1960 & 1980. It was originally a race for amateurs, but has been opened for professionals since 1996.

2^nd anecdote: It is in the commune of Bourg-Achard, department of the Eure that the 144 runners of this 37th edition will set off from.

March 20, Bourg-Achard to Gonfreville l’Orcher, 143km

March 21^st, Neufchâtel-en-Bray to Forges-les Eaux, 164km

March 22^nd, Duclair to Elbeuf-sur-Seine, 179km

March 23^rd, Le Neubourg to Argentan, 163km

March 24^th, La Ferté-Macé to Bagnoles-de-l’Orne, 158km

March 25^th, Fleury-sur-Orne to Ducey-lès-Chéris, 165km

March 26^th, Sourdeval to Caen, 147km

24 ^th of March – 2^nd of July: ‘Tintamarre! Instruments de musique dans l'art, 1860-1910’ - Musée des Impressionnismes, Giverny

An exhibition illustrating the close links that developed between Impressionist painters and musicians.

1^st anecdote: Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny. Monet lived in the house with its famous pink crushed brick façade from 1883 until his death in 1926.

2^nd anecdote: Around 1887, a number of American Impressionist artists settled to work in Giverny, drawn by the landscapes, the overall atmosphere, and the presence of Monet. These included Willard Metcalf, Louis Ritter, Theodore Wendel, and John Leslie Breck. Soon many American extended their visits from summer through the entire year. American painter Theodore Earl Butler married Monet's stepdaughter and sometime-model Suzanne Hoschedé there in 1892.

25 ^th - 26 ^th: D-Day Race, Courseulles-sur-Mer

15 km obstacle race after landing on Juno Beach

1^st anecdote: Courseulles has been an oyster breeding center since the Romans, and still today, the fishermen of the city continue to market and raise oysters. In the last century, Courseulles supplied Paris with "comets", carriages on horseback, which took three days to make the journey to the capital.

2^nd anecdote: On June 14, 1944, General de Gaulle crossed the English Channel aboard the French ship La Combattante and landed on the coast between Courseulles and Graye-sur-Mer. He then went to Bayeux for a memorable speech that will give no choice to the Allies but to recognize the sovereignty of France thru General de Gaulle. Bayeux will become the capital of France until Paris was liberated.

APRIL 2017

1^st April – 11 ^th September: Pablo Picasso Season, Rouen

Three major exhibitions of the artists' work held in three different museums.

15 ^th – 30 ^th: ‘Festival de Pâques’ of Deauville

Easter music festival with many classical concerts

1^st anecdote: Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and one of the most prestigious seaside resorts in all of France. As the closest seaside resort to Paris, the city and its region of the Côte Fleurie (Flowery Coast) has long been home to French high society's seaside houses and is often referred to as the Parisian Riviera.

2^nd anecdote: Deauville was part of the Atlantic Wall during WWII; the Germans installed a battery on Mont Canisy. Belgian troops, backed by the British, liberated the city on August, 24 1944. It took several years for Deauville to recover. The prelaunch of the casino and the foundation of the American Film Festival in 1960 played an important role in the revival of the city.

29 ^th – 30 ^th: ‘Les Rencontres de Cambremer’, Cambremer

Food festival celebrating AOC (Controlled Appellation) products

1^st anecdote: Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental novel À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) which setting took place in Cambremer! 

2^nd anecdote: The appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC "controlled designation of origin") is the certification granted to certain wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO). It is based on the concept of terroir (land).

MAY 2017

11 ^th – 21^st: Normandy Channel Race, Caen

A 1000-mile international sailing race starting and ending in Caen, with a fun-filled ten-day events program

12^th – 14^th: 'Houlgate Plein Vent', Houlgate/Cabourg

Kite festival on the beach

1^st anecdote: In 1861, a first luxury hotel was built next to a wooden casino, itself erected in 1854. The ensemble forms the central point from which the streets of Cabourg-les-Bains leave. In 1867, the casino was rebuilt in stone. Around 1908, the Grand Hotel and the Cabourg casino were rebuilt. Between 1907 and 1914, Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust frequents regularly the Grand Hotel of Cabourg, lodging in room 414 on the fourth floor. The writer evokes the place in his famed À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) under the name of Balbec

2^nd anecdote: With the surrender of France, Houlgate was under German occupation until 21 August 1944. In 1943 the Werhmacht concentrated on the construction of the Atlantic Wall, laying barbed wire, concrete bunkers, and anti-tank obstacles. In Houlgate this meant the installation of radar and a 155 mm cannon on the Butte de Houlgate. These installations were the target of several aerial and naval attacks between 26 April and 21 August 1944.

20^th – 21^st: Festival ‘Graines de Jardin’, Rouen

A major garden festival set in the beautiful Jardin des Plantes, on Rouen’s south bank.

20^th – 27^th: 'Jazz Sous les Pommiers', Coutances

One of France’s most famous jazz festivals, now in its 36^thyear

1^st anecdote: Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town was given the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus. The surrounding region, called in Latin the pagus Constantinus subsequently became known as the Cotentin Peninsula (Utah beach, Sainte Mère Eglise, Cherbourg…). The town was destroyed by invading Normans in 866, who later established settlements and incorporated the whole peninsula into the Duchy of Normandy in 933. Coutances Cathedral is one of the major buildings of Norman architecture and contains a chapel and stained glass dedicated to Saint Marcouf. He was Abbot of Nantus (Nanteuil-en-Cotentin) in the Cotentin, a saint born in the Saxon colony of Bayeux around 500 AD best known for the healing of scrofula.

2^nd anecdote:  Operation Cobra, Breakout and Pursuit!  28 July 1944, the German defenses across the U.S. front had largely collapsed under the full weight of VII and VIII Corps' advance. The 4^th Armored Division entering combat for the first time captured Coutances but met stiff opposition east of the town. U.S. units penetrating into the depth of the German positions were counterattacked by elements of the 2^nd SS Panzer, 17^th SS Panzergrenadier, and 353^rd Infantry Divisions, all seeking to escape entrapment. A desperate counterattack was mounted against the 2^nd Armored Division by German remnants, but this was a disaster and the Germans abandoned their vehicles to flee by foot.

27^th May - 11^th June: D-Day Festival Normandy, Bayeux-Bessin

Selection of free celebrations around the anniversary of D-Day including firework displays and parades

1^st anecdote: D-Day Festival Normandy offers a program of festive events for the anniversary of the Allied Landings of 6th June 1944. In 2017, for the 11^th edition of the D-Day Festival Normandy, the tourist offices of the D-day Landing Beaches will present their area at its best. Program will soon be published!

2^nd anecdote: Rudy Passera, Owner and Interpretive Guide of Normandy American Heroes will be the Master of Ceremony for the 73^rd Commemoration at Utah beach

27 ^th- 28 ^th: Mont-Saint-Michel Bay Marathon

20^th edition of one of the world’s most scenic marathons

1^st anecdote: The worship of Saint Michel was introduced on the Mount in 708, and it became one of the most important places of medieval pilgrimage. Benedictine monks started building an abbey here during the 10^th century. The heroic resistance of the Mount to English attacks during the Hundred Years’ War (14^th & 15^th centuries) made it a symbol of French national identity. Monks left the abbey in 1790, and it was listed as a historic monument in 1874.

2^nd anecdote: In WW2, the island was occupied by the Nazi’s and used as a shelter. Years of military advantage that had transformed the abbey into a strategic defensive front had finally made an ironic turn for the worst. Priceless abbey records dating back to its earliest years as well as collections of illuminated manuscripts were taken to Saint-Lô for safe keeping; however, all were destroyed during the D Day attacks in 1944, the city of Saint-Lo totally devastated by the allies’ bombardments!

27^th – 28^th : 'la Fête des Gueux', Verneuil-sur-Avre

Medieval weekend with street parades, shows, markets…

1^st anecdote: In August 1424, during the Hundred Years' War the battle of Verneuil was fought just north of the town. An English army of 9,000 men beat a joint Franco-Scottish army of 15,000 men and as a result gained control of Normandy & Aquitaine.

2^nd anecdote: A few kilometers west of Verneuil-sur-Avre remains the vestige of a detection radar station of the Luftwaffe. This station, link of an important network that covered all the occupied Europe is located in the town of Saint-Christophe on Avre, in the hamlet of Minglières. It belongs to a set of stations created by General Josef Kammhuber, known as the Himmelbett system (canopy belt), which detected the approach of squadrons of allied bombers and also coordinated their interception by the hunting units of the Luftwaffe. Each station received a coded name corresponding to an animal name whose first letter was that of the nearest town; Here Wurm for Verneuil means Worm in English.

Every Thursday: Les Jeudis du Pin, Le Haras du Pin

Weekly shows with dressage displays and show-jumping

1^st anecdote: In 1665, Colbert created, under Louis XIV, the administration of the ‘Haras Royaux’ (Royal Studs) in order to palliate the shortage of horses that faced the kingdom while improving the French equine breeds. The site of ‘Le Haras du Pin’ was chosen in 1714, first Royal Stud of France. The quality of its pasture and the facilities of water supply made the ‘Buisson d'Exmes’ the perfect place. It’s the Versailles of horses!

2^nd anecdote: The Royal stud emerged miraculously unscathed from the Second World War as fighting raged in the region: Argentan, Chambois, and Falaise to name a few famous battles leading to the end of the Normandy campaign. It belongs today to the French State. Genetic research is carried out on the reproduction of horses.

JUNE 2017

2^nd – 4 ^th: Papillons de Nuit Festival, Saint-Laurent-de-Cuves

Modern music festival getting bigger every year

1^st anecdote: The inhabitants of Villedieu les Poêles, near Saint-Laurent-de-Cuves are called ‘Sourdins’ from the French ‘sourd’ meaning deaf. Most of the people involved in the manufacturing of copper pans, which involved repeated hammering, became deaf. It is traditionally a centre of metal-work, especially the brass and copper pans and basins from which the poêles in its name derives. It is also famous for its artisanal manufacture of large church bells, which was started by immigrants from Lorraine around 1780. The most recent church bells manufactured were for Notre Dame de Paris and Notre Dame de Bayeux cathedrals!

2^nd anecdote: In 1944, when the Germans withdrew from Villedieu les Poêles, they left a sniper who shot some of the first US soldiers to enter Villedieu, before being neutralized. The US commander was about to request airplane bombing runs when the mayor approached him, told him that there were no Germans left in the town and offered to ride through it at the front seat of a US jeep. Villedieu les Poêles was thus one of the few towns in the region to escape major destruction after Operation Cobra.

2^nd – 4 ^th: Dixie Days, Sainte-Adresse

International jazz festival

1^st anecdote: In 1415, during the Hundred Years War, Henri V of England landed there with his fleet to try to reconquer his French heritage. His military successes, culminating at the Battle of Azincourt on October 25, 1415, allowed him to come closer to a conquest of France. After several months of negotiations with Charles VI, very fragile psychologically and regularly struck with madness, the Treaty of Troyes, signed in 1420, recognized Henri  V of England as regent, and heir to the throne of France

2^nd anecdote: During WWI, when Belgium was almost entirely occupied by the Germans, Sainte-Adresse was the administrative capital of the kingdom, leased to the Belgian government for the duration of the hostilities, so as not to make it a government in exile. During WWII, the Germans built several fortifications to defend the port of Le Havre.

3^rd: Carentan Liberty March, Carentan-les-Marais

Remembrance march through the streets of the town

1^st anecdote: Carentan is close to the sites of the medieval Battle of Formigny of the Hundred Years' War. The French, under Charles VII, had taken the time offered by the Treaty of Tours in 1444 to reorganize and reinvigorate his armies. The English army, after landing in Cherbourg, circled Carentan on 12 April 1450, and then turned east towards Bayeux, reaching the village of Formigny on the 14^th. There they suffered a major blow, with 3,500 killed or seriously wounded and 900 taken prisoners. With no other significant English forces in Normandy, the whole region quickly fell to the victorious French.

2^nd anecdote: In the immediate aftermath of Dday, the priority of the 4^th Infantry division at Utah Beach was to link up with the 29^th Infantry division; this job was tasked to the 101^st Airborne division, who had landed in the area and had been conducting raids against inland targets—mainly artillery emplacements helping secure and cut off the landings from such threats as well as reinforcements. On June 9, the 101^st Airborne Division had reorganized sufficiently from the haphazard scattering of its component units and managed to cross the flooded Douve River valley. Carentan will fall on the 12^th of June 1944

3^rd - 5^th: 'Les Camembertises', Camembert

A taste of Camembert country that’s sure to tickle your taste buds

1^st anecdote: Camembert was reputedly first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, following advice from a refractory priest who came from Brie, the Abbot Charles-Jean Bonvoust. He was hidden at the Manor of Beaumoncel where she worked (1796-1797). A statue of Marie Harel is situated in the town of Vimoutiers not far from Camembert. The cheese was famously issued to French troops during WWI, becoming firmly fixed in French popular culture as a result. It plays many other roles in the French culture, literature, and history and is internationally known today.

2^nd anecdote: After visiting France in the early 20^th century, American Joseph Knirim (a doctor!) believed the Camembert cured his stomach ailments. He also assured the Mayo