CityView Magazine

60 | September/October 2015 feature The Lafayette Birthday Celebration and Greek Festival give locals plenty of reasons to get out and about in September Photos by Matthew Wonderly A handful of rock stars go by a single name—Madonna, Sting, Pink, Beyoncé. ese mononymous celebrities have achieved a rare, instantly-recog- nizable level of fame, even when their one name is reduced to a symbol (who can forget e Artist, Formerly Known as Prince?). But before music and mov- ies ruled the pop culture world, there were rock stars of a different sort. Fayetteville's namesake was born Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. By the time he toured America in 1824, he was known worldwide by a single moni- ker: Lafayette. Even with no Facebook page to announce his arrival, the streets were lined from the Cape Fear River to the Market House when he visited Fay- etteville in March of 1825. His extreme popularity sparked a rash of good old American capitalism, as local cras- man created souvenirs such as vases, la- pel pins and snuff boxes to commemo- rate his appearance. So, what was it about Lafayette that made people show up in droves just to get a glance? Simply put, his rock star attitude. In addition to fighting in the American Revolutionary War, Lafay- ette advocated and supported human rights and national independence movements across the globe. La- fayette Society president, Hank Parfitt said, "ere's just some- thing inherently likeable about Lafayette." "While you're reading about other important figures in American history, you oen come away admiring them. In the case of Lafayette, not only do you come away from the stories with admiration, but you also like him," Parfitt said. BY MELISSA GOSLIN Hank Parfitt & Mike Lynch Fayetteville's Big Fat Greek & French Festival

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