On Monday, July 9th, Mr. Kris Dierckx, the Representatitive of the Government of Flanders welcomed more than 200 guests to our Flanders Day reception at The Boathouse in Manhattan's Central Park, which is officially held on the 11th of July.

On that day, Flanders commemorates the Battle of the Golden Spurs, which was fought more than 700 years ago on July 11th, 1302, near Kortrijk in Flanders. In Kortrijk a larger foreign infantry force, thought to be invincible, was defeated and forced to retreat by a modest, but tactically intelligent infantry, which was inspired by an uprising of the people against a foreign power. In medieval Europe this proved to be a shock to military and political leaders and it led to a fundamental rethinking of strategies and tactics that had been taken for granted for decades, even centuries. The date of the Battle of the Golden Spurs has become the official day to celebrate the Flemish Community of Belgium.