Thornbury Farm, 1256 Thornbury Road, West Chester, will host its second Lafayette Celebration on Saturday, July 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event will serve as a prelude to a national, 13-month Lafayette Bicentennial Celebration. Organized by the American Friends of Lafayette, this series of events will commemorate the Frenchman's returning to the United States, where he was the nation's guest. The bicentennial celebration will begin with events in New York City on Friday, Aug. 16. More information about the bicentennial events will be available during the celebration at Thornbury Farm, and items pertaining to the national celebration will be available for purchase.

Lafayette was wounded during the Battle of Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777, near the Thornbury Farm. The spilling of his blood marked the beginning of his becoming a national hero.

Taking part in the July 20 event will be Craig Caba, curator of the J. Howard Wert collection. Caba will display items from the Wert collection relating to Lafayette and Revolutionary War medicine. Caba will also give a talk. For a second year, Bruce Mowday, chair of the Lafayette Bicentennial Brandywine Committee, will lead a heritage walk from the farm to the field where Lafayette was wounded.

Mary Armstrong of Space Cat Films will preview her movie on the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette, and the necessity of preserving historic land. Mowday and event host Randell Spackman, farm owner, history enthusiast, and member of the Board of the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, are both featured in the Armstrong movie. Spackman and Mowday are also members of Chester County's 250th committee planning the celebration of the anniversary of the nation's founding.

Representatives from Chester and Delaware counties have indicated they will attend, and a proclamation is expected to be read.

Members of the Latta family will be on hand to read the invocation their ancestor read at a dinner in West Chester honoring Lafayette. Besides Jim and Alison Latta, Guillaume Haccard will read the message in French.

Signings by local authors and artists producing artworks on Lafayette will be included. Mowday, Shay Allen, and Karl J. Kuerner are scheduled to take part.

The event will also include children's activities, food trucks, vendors, and displays by nonprofit organizations. Parking is available.

For more information on the event, contact Mowday at mowday@mowday.com. Information about the Lafayette Bicentennial is available at http://www.lafayette200.org.