Ste. Genevieve’s French Heritage Festival
A festival born from high water – and higher purpose
Ste. Genevieve’s French Heritage Festival
A festival born from high water – and higher purpose
Celebrate 300 years of French Colonial culture in Missouri’s oldest town!
Saturday, June 13, 2026 (11:30 A.M. - 5:30 P.M.)
Located in Historic Downtown Ste. Genevieve
FREE daytime festival with a ticketed evening Frontier French Dance
Event Details
Schedule of Events
11:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremony at Ste. Genevieve Catholic Church
49 Dubourg Pl, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670
12:00 p.m.
Promenade to Festival Grounds
(Start at Ste. Genevieve Catholic Church; conclude at Lions Club Park)
12:15 p.m.
French Heritage Festival Grounds
155 Market St, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670
French Colonial America: Milice Encampment - Colonial Living History & Demonstrators
Je Voudrais Marché : Parisian Market led by Jenny B, Schultz Antiques, and Fox Stoneware
Jean Baptiste Vallé Yard: Living History Demonstrations, Kids Activities, & Mime Performance
12:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Frontier French food by My Chef STL
Jean Baptiste Vallé House - Speakers
• 12:15 - Jim Baker
• 1:15 - Claire-Marie Brisson
• 2:15 - Joseph Dunn
• 3:15 - Will Thompson
• 4:15 - Joseph Dunn
Welcome Center - Speakers
• 12:15 - Brian Hawkins
• 1:15 - Will Thompson
• 2:15 - Brian Hawkins
• 3:15 - Claire-Marie Brisson
• 4:15 - Jim Baker
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Live Music: Paw Paw French by Dennis Stroughmatt Et L’esprit Creole
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Live Music: Cajun French by Forest Huval Band
5:30 p.m.
French Heritage Festival Concludes
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Frontier French Dance - Purchase Tickets
99 S Main St, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670, USA
Ashley Sewing Photography
The Frontier French Dance
History comes to life after dark! Dust off your dancing shoes for a night of authentic 18th-century music and movement. Held in the breathtaking Jean-Baptiste Vallé House garden, this is the only ticketed event of the French Heritage Festival—don't miss your chance to be part of the tradition.
What is the French Heritage Festival?
While the celebration and preservation of French colonial customs, architecture, music and culture are a long-standing tradition in the historic river town of Ste. Genevieve, there is one festival that, at its core, was brought forth in defiance to the river.
In 1997, the celebration known as the French Heritage Festival was sparked by a cataclysmic event the Midwest still remembers in its bones: the Great Flood of 1993. When the Mississippi River returned to its banks and the region took stock of what could be lost, Ste. Genevieve’s preservation community together with friends and fellow caretakers from Les Amis St. Louis felt an urgent, shared responsibility to protect the French Colonial architecture and cultural legacy that makes this place unlike anywhere else.
The festival was founded in the spirit of proof of life: that the river did not win, a protective levee would be built and the preservation of cherished French legacy buildings and cultural traditions would spring forth again.
In its inaugural years, the festival unfolded as a three-day passage through an historic French corridor—beginning in St. Louis, journeying through Ste. Genevieve and ending in Cape Girardeau—connecting river towns and communities shaped by French settlement, trade, language, faith, craft, and foodways. It was a moving story, told in places where the story actually happened. Titled originally as La Fête Français and sponsored by Les Amis St. Louis with local partners in each of the other communities, the festival was met with enthusiasm. Today the celebration continues to evolve, nurtured in the National Landmark Historic District of Ste. Genevieve, as the annual French Heritage Festival.
Today: deeper relevance. Wider table.
Now, the Foundation for Restoration is building the festival’s next chapter with a clear goal: deeper relevance—and extending our genuine welcome to a more wide-ranging audience. We’re presenting two things:
1. This event celebrating our rich French history is open to all, regardless of heritage. Come! Enjoy!
And also—
2. We want to immerse attendees in the history and ongoing influence of French-flavored America.
That second part is an invitation to the greater Franco-American community, stretching from the Atlantic coast of Maine and Quebec to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, to gather in Sainte Geneviève and celebrate the past and future of a diaspora that never really stopped moving, mixing, and making.
Expect a weekend where tradition has fingerprints—music that carries across generations, food that tastes like memory (and mischief), skill demonstrations that prove our ancestors were both practical and wildly stylish, and expert talks that connect the dots between then and now. Come for the heritage, stay for the familiar feeling of it: the sense that you’ve stepped into a story that still has room for you.
Come celebrate what endures—and what’s next.
Because this place was never meant to be “preserved” like a pressed flower. It’s meant to be lived in. Shared. Argued over lovingly. Cooked, sung, built, and passed along—one good conversation at a time.
Plan Your Visit
Explore all that Ste. Genevieve has to offer on the Visit Ste. Gen website!
Contact
Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve
Copyright Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve 2026