Monday Morning 5/19/2025:
11:00am  Receive Lafayette at Public Landing by the Paddle Wheel
                American & French National Anthems sung by Sycamore High School Choir
                Mayor of Cincinnati to receive the Marquis de Lafayette
                American Friends of Lafayette speaker(s) thank Mayor and attendees
11:30am  Walk from Public Landing to CMC - "Museum" of Lafayette artifacts

Monday Evening 5/19/2025:
6:00pm    Doors open at Cincinnati Masonic Center for Dinner and Ball
6:30pm    Happy Hour, Seating & Pettifors in Grand Ballroom
7:00pm    Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution Color Guard escorts
                Lafayette & Dignitaries
7:05pm    Lafayette welcomes everyone
7:10pm    Welcome by Lafayette Cincinnati Bi-centennial Co-Chairs:
                Monica Mohlenkamp, Regent of Cincinnati Chapter of the Daughters of the
                American Revolution
                Cameron Shandersky, Past Master of Cincinnati-Lafayette Lodge No. 483
                Free & Accepted Masons of Ohio
                Dr. Patti Maclay, At-large Member of the Board of Governors, American Friends of Lafayette
7:15pm    Dinner begins
7:30pm    Keynote Speaker - Julien Icher, President & Founder of The Lafayette Trail, Inc.
8:10pm    Special Dessert - Lafayette's favorite
8:20pm    Cincinnati Co-chairs recognize dignitaries, thank participating organizations, Julien,
                Lafayette interpreter & corporate sponsors
8:30pm    Dinner ends. Guests are invited to get a drink and work their way upstairs to the
                hallway next to the Auditorium
8:45pm    Concert by Maestro Laurence Bonhaus and the Cincinnati Civic Orchestra begins
9:00pm    Grand March led by Lafayette & Organization Dignitaries
9:15pm    Jeanette Watts invites guests to the floor for Regency period ballroom dancing instruction
10:30pm  Concert & Dancing ends

Tuesday  5/20/25:
10:30am  Tribute to Lafayette & Fanny Wright at Spring Grove Cemetery in the
                Rose Garden Gazebo
                Alliance Francaise de Cincinnati welcomes guests
                American Friends of Lafayette introduction of interpreters
                Lafayette & Fanny Wright interpreters reading letters they wrote to each other
                Trista Yeager, Eleanor Rust (Fanny Wright podcasters) & Julien Icher (The Lafayette Trail) present
11:45am  Walk to Fanny Wright's gravesite (17 mins)
12:30pm  Reception by Alliance Francaise de Cincinnati
                American Friends of Lafayette to speak, thanking all & closing the Cincinnati bi-centennial celebration.

Organization websites:

The Lafayette Trail
American Friends of Lafayette
Cincinnati Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Cincinnati Civic Orchestra
Clough Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution
Alliance Francaise de Cincinnati
Cincinnati-Lafayette Lodge No. 483, Free & Accepted Masons of Ohio


 

Dinner & Ball are a formal event. Period Dress is admired but not required. 

EVENT DETAILS:

May 19, 2025 @ 11:00 am
Welcome Lafayette at Riverfront Landing Historic Marker, Proceed to View Lafayette Artifacts at Masonic Center, Cincinnati, OH
Riverfront Public Landing by the American Queen Paddle Wheel sculpture, followed by Cincinnati Masonic Center 317 East Fifth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202

Welcome Lafayette at the same place he was received in 1825!

The Cincinnati Riverfront has been developed into a lovely walkway of public parks. We will welcome Lafayette on the walkway plaza next to the American Queen Paddle Wheel sculpture, where the Historic Marker of his visit has been placed by The Lafayette Trail and Pomeroy Foundation. Speakers will include the Mayor of Cincinnati presenting a Proclamation declaring May 19th as “Marquis de Lafayette Day” and Chuck Schwam, Executive Director of the American Friends of Lafayette. Join members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) in wearing period attire (admired but not required). The SAR Color Guard will provide a salute to honor Lafayette.

Following the welcome event, all are invited to proceed up Broadway Street to the Cincinnati Masonic Center to view a display of Lafayette artifacts and information in this beautiful historic building. Artifacts include Lafayette’s signature on the founding documents of Lafayette Lodge No. 81 (which was later merged in the 1990s to form today’s Cincinnati-Lafayette Masonic Lodge No.483).

Open to all, free of charge.

May 19, 2025 @ 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Lafayette Celebration Dinner and Ball, Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati Masonic Center 317 East Fifth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202

Enjoy delicious French cuisine and Ballroom Dancing (with an instructor) in the beautiful historic Cincinnati Masonic Center building in downtown Cincinnati. Lafayette’s visit to Cincinnati included Lafayette Masonic Lodge No.81, and a festive dinner and ball in his honor. We are fortunate to be able to celebrate the bi-centennial
anniversary by holding a dinner and ball in the Masonic Center Grand Ballroom and Auditorium!
The evening will include displays of Lafayette artifacts and information in the Founders Hall, a welcoming address from Lafayette, and celebration leaders from local and national organizations including Free & Accepted Masons, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), Alliance Francaise de Cincinnati, and American Friends of Lafayette (AFL). The keynote speaker will be Julien Icher, President and Founder of The Lafayette Trail.

The evening will begin with happy hour and petits fours, and dinner will include several delicious options (including vegetarian) and Lafayette’s favorite dessert. Music for the ball is provided by Maestro Laurence Bonhaus and the Cincinnati Civic Orchestra, and historic dance instructor Jeanette Watts will guide us in a Grand March and provide dance instruction throughout the ball. It will be a grand time for celebration!

This will be a ticketed public event. 

May 20, 2025 @ 10:30 am – 12:30 pm, reception to follow
Tribute to Lafayette and Fanny Wright, sponsored by Alliance Francaise de Cincinnati, OH 
Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, 4521 Spring Grove Ave.  Cincinnati, Ohio 45232

Join us for a tribute to Frances “Fanny” Wright, a thought leader of her time but sometimes forgotten figure who was a close friend of Lafayette and influenced his belief in equality between men and women. Fanny was an independent lecturer, writer, freethinker, feminist, and social reformer who shared Lafayette’s commitment to the abolition of slavery. She was born in Scotland in 1795, was invited by Lafayette to join him on his Farewell Tour of America, became a US citizen in 1825, and died in Cincinnati in 1852 where she is laid to rest in Spring Grove Cemetery.

Tristra Yeager and Eleanor Rust, Co-producers of the Frances Wright podcast, Julien Icher, President and founder of The Lafayette Trail, Inc., Chuck Schwam, Executive Director of the American Friends of Lafayette, an AFL Lafayette interpreter, and a Fanny Wright interpreter will speak in the Rose Garden gazebo.  Following their presentations, we will visit Fanny’s grave to lay flowers and read the inscriptions on her monument. A reception sponsored by the Alliance Francaise will follow (location TBD).

Open to all, free of charge.