It’s been a bit more than a full week since my wife Jan and I, and a whole bunch of other people, headed to Daglan’s community hall (la Salle des fêtes) for the annual review of village life by our Mayor. A combination of factors, including of course laziness, has delayed this report.
In any case, I’ll begin by reporting that there is nothing dramatic to report. In his presentation, Mayor Pascal Dussol used a series of slides to display some of the projects completed in 2019, and to highlight activities ranging from our annual August festival to the relatively recent Christmas market (or Marché de Noël). Most of these, of course, were covered in exhaustive detail in Radio Free Daglan in 2019.
It was interesting that the meeting was kicked off by another official — the Mayor of Domme, Jean-Claude Cassagnole, who heads up the Communauté de communes de Domme-Villefranche du Périgord. (Try saying that quickly, five times!) Anyway, as the name suggests, it’s a collection of smaller communities, and includes Daglan. At last count, there were just under 9,000 inhabitants in the communauté. Here’s M. Cassagnole at the microphone, with Mayor Dussol standing by:
Two Mayors, with lots to say.
Late in his remarks, Mayor Dussol did acknowledge that his council is hoping that Daglan will earn a third flower (out of a possible four) in the Villages Fleuri program. Here’s some background, from my posting of April 13, 2018:
To refresh you, the Villes et Villages Fleuri competition is a national program created in 1959. Over the years, the program has evolved. While the name suggests that villages like Daglan are full of flowers — which is true — it also signifies that the village is generally trying to improve the local environment and encourage a high quality of life for residents.
Cities and villages which qualify can be awarded from one to four flowers, which are displayed on signs as you enter the community. When Daglan was first recognized, we had one flower on our signs. And now, we have two flowers on each of the signs posted at the three main entrances to the village.
Here’s a slide showing some of the efforts that were made in 2019 — planting of yet more flowering trees and shrubs at the various entrances to the village:
The plants just keep on coming.
In case you were wondering (and I was), lagerstroemia refers to flowering plants sometimes called lilas des Indes (lilacs of India). Apparently they are grown all over France now.
Each year at this event, we are impressed by how well-attended it is. Here’s a photo that shows some of the crowd, after the speeches and presentations were concluded:
Our village hall was full to over-flowing.
To encourage people to stay and chat, refreshments are offered — like this tray of pizza squares (which were pretty tasty, I have to say):
Pizza anyone? Yes, please!
To cap off the evening, a multi-course complimentary dinner was provided to anyone who wanted to stay. (No reservations required.) Jan and I have our major meal of the day at lunch, so we didn’t linger for the dinner. But we heard from a friend afterwards that the dinner — featuring roast suckling pig — was delicious. Not bad for a little village, eh?
Radio Free Daglan 
Good job on the flowering plants What a good idea! Here in Windmill Ranch we are told by our HOA to keep up appearances on our properties so it’s a similar situation.
Yep. A beautiful environment just makes your life more pleasant. Cheers!