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John Rowland/The Advertiser    Dominique Dupuis plays the fiddle Thursday during the celebration marking 10 years of twin city status between Carencro and Dieppe, New Brunswick. The event was held at Carencro's Pelican Park.

CARENCRO - The decade of twin city status between Carencro and Dieppe, New Brunswick, has meant an exchange of culture, business, tourists, and on Friday- reading glasses.              Carencro Mayor Tommy Angelle and Dieppe Mayor Yvon LaPierre had to split a pair of glasses to read a proclamation rededicating the connection between the two cities, Angelle in English and his counterpart in French.              The crowd of several hundred braving the heat at Pelican Park laughed appreciatively and applauded the impromptu Ceremony of the Exchanging of the Spectacles as the two mayors commemorated the twinning of their cities.              "Over the past 10 years, we've had a lot of pomp and circumstance, we've had a lot of speeches, but most of all, we've had a lot of friendship," Angelle said. "We've made connections and friends that go deep down to your very soul."

             "Every time I've been here since, I feel like I'm home," he said.

             The city of Carencro tried to make the Canadians feel welcome with an evening of music, dancing and food following the official events.

             "As friendly as we are, they think we go overboard for them," Angelle said. "It's just our nature."

             LaPierre said he and the more than 100 citizens of Dieppe who came for the celebration were enjoying themselves despite the heat.

             "The weather's a little bit hot, but you have to take the bad with the good," he said. "The bad is the heat, the good is the people."

             The twinning of Carencro and Dieppe has meaning not only for the city officials, but for the people of the two cities, LaPierre said.

             "It's important to people to know they have a place to go," he said.   "Knowing that you have common names, common families after  200 years, that's important."

             Family connections have helped the two cities grow closer over the past decade, Angelle said.

             "More and more people became interested because of their family roots," he said.  Finding people with similar names or similar features excites the interest in tracing those roots, Angelle said.

             "You see somebody that twitches their mouth a certain way, and lo and behold, a long-lost cousin does the same thing," he said. "The biggest thing about it is the family orientation."