Forgeois Group, Ricard & Lillet Brands Join Host 9th Annual Bastille Day Event

This July marks the ninth year of the Bastille Day Petanque event held on Smith Street, in Brooklyn, while for the second year launching in TriBeCa along West Broadway. The 60+ multi-cultural teams will compete on the packed sand courts, as the music, magician, amazing food, cold beverages, and the summer sun all gather around.

Spectators will once again mill about the booths of local businesses, chow down on Bar Tabac or Cercle Rouge specialties and sip on a Classic Ricard due to the work of this tournament's event series founders: Bette Stoltz of SBLDC, the Bar Tabac and Robin des Bois restaurants.

The Forgeois Group, the famous French liquor brand Ricard, and the chic French aperitive wine line from Bordeaux, Lillet, also partner for the sixth consecutive year in promoting French culture and festivities through these Bastille Day tournaments.

"After beginning this tournament in 2001 as an event intimate to Bar Tabac, each proceeding year the event grew, drawing more international participants and New York crowds to enrich their life with French culture," said Forgeois, owner of the Forgeois Group, a band of successful restaurants including the tournament hosts Bar Tabac and Cercle Rouge.

Ricard has been involved in the Bastille Day petanque jubilee by refreshing participants and bystanders with cocktails of its original namesake line and number one pastis, an anise-flavored beverage. With the release in France this past February of the first ever bottle redesign, the original created in 1932, Ricard plans to celebrate by giving out free prizes and presenting the new bottle during the tournament events as a preview to its United States release in September.

To please the taste buds of the crowds, Cercle Rouge and Bar Tabac will be presenting the works of in house chef Pierre Landet, Master Chef of France. There will also be a special appearance of chef Benjamin Darnaud of France invited by Ricard company and seen on French culinary TV shows: "Top Chef" and "C'est moi qui regale".

Sunday, July 10th - From noon to 8pm
Brooklyn @ Bar Tabac (128 Smith Street)

Thursday, July 14th - From noon to 7pm
TriBeCa @ Cercle Rouge (241 West Broadway)