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Referred to as the best kept secret in Lexington, we want to take the secret out of how great Lexington Sister Cities really is!  As a program that was created in 1957, we don't know how we can still be a secret, so it's time to tell the world about our purpose, goals, and programs.  

About Lexington Sister Cities:
After World War II, President Eisenhower was striving for a way to create and maintain international relations.  His belief was that peace was not going to be achieved by politicians sitting around a table, but by people in the communities creating relationships between countries all over the world.  He said "if we are going to take advantage of the assumption that all people want peace, then the problem is for people to get together and to leap governments - if necessary to evade governments - to work out not one method but thousands of methods by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other."  From this idea, he created Sister Cities International in 1956.  

Horses on the beach in Deauville, France. 

Lexington became one of the first cities to create a Sister City relationship when they twinned with Deauville, France in 1957.  With Lexington being the "Horse Capital of the World", it made sense to become Sister Cities with Deauville as they were the horse center of France.  

In the beginning, cities were still trying to figure out how to pursue these international relationships, so it took some years before exchange programs began to take place.  In the 1970's, Betty Mills, a French teacher in Lexington, found out about the Sister City relationship between Deauville and Lexington and formed a volunteer committee to begin exchange programs between the two cities.  

Racing at The Curragh Racecourse in County Kildare, Ireland. 

Years later, in 1984, Mayor Jim Amato wanted Lexington to gain another Sister City.  With the common bond between Deauville and Lexington being the horse, it made sense to pursue another "horse town" - leading Lexington to twin with County Kildare, Ireland, home of the Irish Derby.  County Kildare and Deauville are also Sister Cities with each other, creating a triangle relationship between the 3 twinned cities.  

An overlook of the city of Shinhidaka, Japan.  

In 1988, Lexington again expanded it's Sister City list by twinning with Shizunai, Japan.  Shizunai was home to the largest horse sales pavilion in Japan and many distinguished breeding farms.  

Now with 3 Sister Cities, Mayor Amato decided to open an office and create a commission to run programs with all the Sister Cities.  In 1989, the Lexington Sister Cities Commission was opened.  

Horse racing in Newmarket, England.  

Another Sister City was added in 2003.  Lexington twinned with Newmarket, England, the "Heart of the Horse Industry".  There were now 5 cities connected by the desire for international relations and the love of the horse industry.  

In 2006, Japan was consolidating some of the smaller townships to form larger cities.  Shizunai merged with Mitsuishi to become Shinhidaka.  Shinhidaka remains Sister Cities with Lexington.  

The relationships between all the cities and Lexington continue to grow stronger each year.  Most recently in 2014, Lexington and County Kildare celebrated the 30th Anniversary of their twinning.  Mayor Jim Gray greeted Mayor Fiona O'Loughlin for the celebration in Lexington.  Mayor O'Loughlin's father, Jimmy O'Loughlin, was the Mayor of County Kildare when the twinning agreement was signed in 1984.  

Lexington and Shinhidaka celebrated the 25th Anniversary of their Sister City relationship in 2013.  Mayor Yoshihide Sakai was made a Kentucky Colonel to commemorate the event.  

In 2017, Lexington and Deauville will celebrate 60 years of their Sister City relationship.  

So there is a summary of Lexington Sister Cities!  To learn more about each of Lexington's Sister Cities, visit their websites at the bottom of our page.  You can always visit our website too, located on the sidebar.  

There is so much more to our organization and our program, so stay tuned to our blog for tons of updates, stories, and more!