Les Bals des Pompiers

July 14th is the national holiday of France.  The night before, many of the local fire brigades (sapeurs-pompiers) host parties to commemorate the holiday.  I had seen some photos online from past years, and it looked like a lot of fun.  We chose the closest one to our house, on Rue du Jour just behind Église St. Eustache.  When we got there, a line had already formed.

The French guys in front of us told us that this was one of the most popular parties around.  Some of the people I talked to had come into Paris from the suburbs just for this one night of partying.

The wait to get in wasn't really very long, despite the queue.  At the door, the firefighters told us that entry was "gratuite" (free) but they were accepting donations.  We put some money in the box, and voilà!  We were in.

The fire station's interior courtyard was festooned with colored lights and the French flag.

Firefighters turned into bartenders for the night.  The only drink on the menu: champagne, at 40 euro a bottle.  Très cher!

The price obviously didn't stop us!

In front of the stage people were packed in like sardines.  But that was okay, the band was very good and played popular French songs along with a few American hits.

I guess at some point they brought some kilted dancers onstage...

...which apparently made other people want to dance onstage also, or on the bar as it happened.

As the night wore on, things got hazy.  My memory is not very trustworthy, but I swear at some point the DJ played this song and people all wailed along, whether they knew the words or not.



And that about sums it up.  We left at around 2 am, at least according to the timestamp on my last picture.  As you can see, people were still in line waiting to get inside.  Too much fun at the Bals des Pompiers!