It is the most important day of the year for French ex-patriots like Aurelie Quade.
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"It feels more like Christmas", she says, mainly because the July 14 weather is so cold compared to the usual summer celebrations she would see as a child in the northern French city of Villers-Cotterets.
"I have been here for 13 years, and it still hasn't clicked that this is the day," Mrs Quade said.
With so few French people living in Wagga, the celebrations tend to be far less spectacular than those of her homeland.
But across the weekend, the community marked the 230th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille with as much pomp and circumstance as the weather permitted.
"When I was a kid, we used to walk with lanterns and a candle to [commemorate] when the armies retreated," she said.
"We marched from the council chambers to where the fireworks would be, and the little kids would dress as revolutionaries."
But despite the national pride, Mrs Quade believes the French could serve to learn a lot from their Australian counterparts.
"Australians make a big effort to give Anzac Day and Australia Day a big significance," she said.
"That significance is lost in France. We don't reflect on what is important any more.
"[Bastille Day] remembers when the people took the power back from the ruling classes, and I feel like in a lot of ways we've gone back to a time when we are oppressed by power.
"We need to remember the values. Whether Australian or French, it is a time to get together and celebrate your identity and never lose the memory of who you are."