Editor's Note: This is part of a series on several Northwest Florida residents' visit to Noirmoutier, France in connection with Sister Cities International.
Among those visiting is Crestview Area Sister City Program President and News Bulletin reporter Brian Hughes.
NOIRMOUTIER, France — Noirmoutier-en-l'Île's residents and its visitors now have little doubt about which American city the French island favors.
May 9, Crestview and Noirmoutrin officials proclaimed Noirmoutier's main entry landmark the "Rond Point de Crestview," or the Crestview Roundabout. Crestview's flag joined the Stars and Stripes, the French Tricolor, Noirmoutier's city flag and the European Union's blue flag during the ceremony.
Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Chedister, Mayor David Cadle's representative; Crestview Area Sister City Program President Brian Hughes; Noirmoutier Mayor Noël Faucher; and Noirmoutier sister city committee President René Relandeau unveiled the roundabout's new sign.
"Naming this roundabout 'The Rond Pont de Crestview' strongly symbolizes our relationship with Crestview to everyone who enters Noirmoutier," Relandeau said.
The presentation was followed by a procession to the town hall, where the four officials exchanged speeches and signed documents renewing the 20-year relationship that has united the two communities under Sister Cities International.
During his remarks to the packed hall and more than 30 people clustered in the street outside the chamber doors, Chedister said the relationship extends beyond cultural and social friendships.
"This is a friendship between two peoples who cherish liberty and freedom," he said, citing France's aid to American colonists during the Revolutionary War, and the previous day's observance of America's aid in liberating France in World War II.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: French landmark named after Crestview