On Sunday, June 29 residents of the St. John Valley will gather to celebrate Maine Acadian Day, in honor of the first families who began the French settlement in 1785 of what then was known as the Madawaska Territory.
An annual event since June 28, 1978, when Maine Acadian Day was proclaimed by the Madawaska City Council, the Maine State Legislature and by Gov. Longley, the celebration traditionally includes a French Acadian Mass, a luncheon and a canoe landing re-enactment.
On the day of that first celebration in 1978, the Acadian Flag flew over the Maine Capitol, the first time any flag other than the Maine Standard had been flown there. The date was chosen based on the oral history of the Valley that the first settlers who had left St. Anne in New Brunswick arrived that day on the shores of the river at what is now St. David. Last year Gov. Janet Mills signed a proclamation making June 28 Maine Acadian Day in perpetuity.
A French Acadian Mass at 11 a.m. in St. David Church will begin the celebration, followed by a traditional food meal of chicken stew, baked beans, fiddleheads, creton and ployes in the reception hall.
Guests can then make their way down to Memorial Cross site for a landing reenactment at approximately 1 p.m. Dessert will be served after the re-enactment.
