Highlighting the festivities will be a special dedication ceremony honoring the center’s founding executive director, Rita S. Dubé.

The Fête Nationale of Quebec, the Feast Day of St. Jean the Baptist, will be celebrated locally with a traditional meal and entertainment on Friday, June 23 at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston. Highlighting the festivities will be a special dedication ceremony honoring the Franco Center’s founding executive director, Rita S. Dubé.

The event will start with a social hour and cash bar in the center’s Heritage Hall at 10:30 a.m. A traditional feast day meal of Soup Bouillon, Salade de Printemps, Meat Tourtiere, and Cake des Fêtes will be served at 11:30 a.m. At noon, churches from across the Twin Cities will mark the occasion by ringing their bells. At 12:30 p.m., a program in the center’s Performance Hall will feature live traditional music by Nel Meservier and Les Troubadours. Special guests will include Marie-Claude Francoeur of the Québec Delegation to Boston. Concluding the program will be a surprise tribute and traditional fireworks display.

The program, sponsored in partnership with the Québec Delegation to Boston, the Franco-American Collection at USM/LAC, the Maine Franco-American Genealogical Society, Place St-Louis in Auburn, and Museum L/A, “will once again showcase the past and future contributions of Franco-American and other Francophone cultures in our community,” says Franco Center Executive Director Mitch Thomas.

Reserved meal tickets are $12. The Franco Center is located at 46 Cedar Street in Lewiston. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 783-1585 or see francocenter.org.