American Friends Of Lafayette 2023 coming to LaGrange June 8-11, 2023

For Immediate Release:

Marquis de Lafayette in Person on LaFayette Square

The annual meeting of the American Friends of Lafayette will be June 8-11, 2023, in LaGrange.

Events Friday and Saturday, June 9 and 10, are open to the public and free.

Friday, June 9:
….12:30 PM, Wesley Hall, First United Methodist Church, Professor Linda McMullen will talk on “Lafayette and Abolition.”
….At 2 PM, at Price Theater, “The Spirit of Lafayette,” a forty-five minute drama, will be presented with Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, and Napoleon among the cast.
….At 3 PM, Lamar Dodd Art Museum, a Lafayette Exhibit will be on display, curated by Professor John Lawrence.

Saturday, June 10, is “American Friends of Lafayette Day in LaGrange,” by proclamation of Mayor Willie Edmondson.
….Parents, children, and visitors are invited to take a ride on the “Lafayette Trolley,” from 10 AM to 4 PM.
….The Lafayette Trolley will board at the Marriott, West Lafayette Square, at thirty minute intervals, for a three mile ride, looping downtown to Hills and Dales and back.
….Riders will get an “I Rode the Lafayette Trolley” sticker.
….Lafayette himself (portrayed by re-enactor Ben Goldman), in full uniform, will be on Lafayette Square from 10 AM to Noon.
….His wife, Adrienne Lafayette (played by Tara Laurel Little) , will be on the Square from Noon to 2 PM.
….James Armistead (played by Zeke Weldon), the African American whom Lafayette recruited to spy on Lord Cornwallis, will be on the Square from 2 PM to 4 PM.
….The Visitor Center will be open from 10 AM to 4 PM; it will have on display an exhibit on Lafayette and curated by Professor John Lawrence.
….The public is invited to all these events; they are free.
….More than 100 visitors, most from out of state and most visiting LaGrange for the first time, will anchor at the Marriott Courtyard during the four day conference.
….Professor Linda McMullen, Vice-President of the Lafayette Alliance, which is hosting the event, said LaGrange is a natural fit for this conference.

“What with a magnificent statue at Lafayette Square, and the namesake ‘LaGrange,’ Lafayette’s home forty miles east of Paris, hosting the American Friends of Lafayette here just made sense.”