By: Bill Rapp @bill_rappTV
*All Pictures credited by Bill Rapp
28 June, 2016
In The Style of Nice, France- Since the end of World War II, the French Communist Party has held a celebration high above the city of Nice on the Côte d’Azur called Fete du Chateau.
Fete du Chateau:
Its an annual music festival that attracts a musical hodgepodge where people take themselves on a sojourn up to the majestic Chateau du Nice for two days of entertaining bliss.
Visitors climbed hundreds of stairs to the historic gardens of the Chateau Saturday and Sunday.
The smell of warm socca, a traditional Nicoise flatbread that warms the pallet with tasty tart nuttiness, hand-crafted from chickpea flour and olive oil, wafted over the grounds as live bands jammed on two separate stages. (Farinata, its sister bread, is also made the same way for centuries in Italy).
DJ’s and drummers supplemented the entertainment throughout the event. Here are some highlights below:
The festival had its beginnings in 1946 as a way to celebrate freedom after years of German occupation. The celebration was also meant as a chance for people to discuss politics and current issues. Some musicians have called the event the “Woodstock of Nice”.
The poster for the event this year was created by Coco, whose real name is Corinne Rey, a female political cartoonist, known now as a survivor of the January 2015 terror attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine. She was present at the massacre inside the offices where twelve of her co-workers were killed while she hid under a desk.
About The Writer
Bill Rapp is a freelance journalist living on the French Riviera with his wife and pets. Before moving to France, was a multi-media journalist for Western Mass News and CBS 3 in Springfield, MA.Bill previously worked as an associate producer, assignment editor and fill-in traffic reporter at CBS affiliate WFSB in Connecticut. Before that he was a full-time traffic reporter and producer for Metro Networks in Hartford, CT. Bill came to New England in 1990 to report for duty at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton, CT. There he attended school and served as a radioman aboard USS Alexandria SSN-757. Bill has had a wealth of different work experience. After six years of honorable service in the Navy, he worked at an auto parts store, as a commercial sound/data installer, framing homes and an industrial mechanic. Then ten years ago he caught the broadcasting bug and attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. He studied journalism at Manchester Community College. When Bill isn’t working, he can be found exploring Europe with his Italian wife and their dogs Cheyenne and Luna, or riding the back roads on his motorcycle.
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