Mt. Prospect to host visitors from French sister city
A group of residents from Mount Prospect’s sister city of Sèvres, France — including Sèvres Mayor Francois Kosciusko-Morizet — will visit the village next week as part of the two communities’ ongoing efforts to share their cultures.
The French visitors, who will be staying with Mount Prospect residents, will tour a number of local businesses, schools and leisure sites during the week. Their trip will culminate in a celebratory community banquet on Wednesday night.
“We’ve been planning this for a year, and I’m so excited to see it all come together,” said Paula Randant, a member of the Mount Prospect Sister Cities Commission and president of the Illinois Sister Cities Commission.
The special events will begin on Sunday, Sept. 15, when a French market is held in conjunction with the Mount Prospect Lions Club’s usual farmers market in the downtown area. The French market, which will run 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., will include a variety of French food and goods. The delegation from Sèvres will be on hand from 10 a.m. to noon. The market is held in the commuter parking lot at the corner of Northwest Highway and Route 83.
“That will be a great time for people to say ‘Hi’ to our French guests,” Randant said.
The Mount Prospect Public Library will host a special reception for the Sèvres delegation from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 16. The library is located at 10 S. Emerson St.; the event is open to the public.
In addition, the Sèvres residents will visit several Mount Prospect-area businesses and restaurants. They’ll also stop by local schools and enjoy a trip to the city of Chicago. On Wednesday, they and their local hosts will wrap up the trip with a big community banquet at Victoria in the Park banquet hall on Elmhurst Road.
Mount Prospect and Sèvres formally established their sister-city relationship in 2000. A group from Sèvres visited the village that year, and since then the two communities have held a number of cultural exchanges. Randant visited Sèvres during one of those exchanges.
“They were such wonderful hosts; they took such good care of us,” she said. “We will try to do the same.”
Sèvres is located on the Seine River, southwest of Paris. Roughly 23,000 people live in the city, which is known for its vibrant cultural life and La Manufacture de Céramique, a famous porcelain manufacturer. Kosciusko-Morizet, the city’s mayor, is part of a multigenerational political lineage. His father served as the French ambassador to the United States, and his daughter is now running for mayor in Paris.
Randant said that just a few seats remained available for Wednesday’s banquet. Tickets cost $40 per person. To reserve a seat, call Randant at (847) 922-7862.