Bastille Day, the French equivalent of the Fourth of July, doesn’t have much resonance in this country — except when it provides an excuse to pour thousands of pounds of sand onto Smith Street, drink pastis cocktails at bistros around town, and generally indulge in Gallic frolicking. Our favorite Bastille Day pastime, though, is pétanque, a boccielike game you can play on Sunday in a tournament co-sponsored by Bar Tabac and Robin Des Bois. (To learn more about pétanque, in a poignant personal account of it, go here.) To watch, go to Smith Street between Bergen and Pacific, in Boerum Hill. There will also be live music and merguez sausages, according to The Brooklyn Paper. But Bastille Day is not only celebrated in Brooklyn: The Daily News has a good roundup, including a street fair on 60th Street, from Fifth to Lexington avenues, and special events at Benoit, Gavroche, and Cercle Rouge.

La Brooklynais [Brooklyn Paper]
Celebrate Bastille Day by sabering your own bottle of Champagne [NYDN]