From the canton of Vallee-du-Sapin:
Genevrier-Ville (Ginepro-Cittadina - Italian; Wacholderstadt - German)
Population: 89,686 (Nov 2021)
A new town, founded in the 1960s, this was named for the juniper plants that grew on the heathland in the area.
Largely French-speaking, it was developed by a wealthy French family as part of the New Town movement in the 1960s, and inspired by British new towns with its tower blocks and road layouts.
The town's heritage for juniper is shown in the cantonal arms crest, and also in its industrial production of juniper-berry soda and gin, of which many people are employed.
Indeed, the colour is still common for jumpers sold here.
The town is the capital of Vallee-du-Sapin, "fir valley" and replaced it as capital in 1975, displacing Foret de Chenes, which is 5% smaller in population terms.
Officially, there is little for the tourist to see in terms of historic things, although the juniper distillery remains popular, and the vehicle racetrack always gets many sports car owners visiting.
It's largely a residential, industrial town.
Genevrier-Ville is the official cantonal capital for Vallee-du-Sapin, but Foret de Chenes remains the judicial capital of the region, despite the purpose-built new law courts, although as of 2012, they now are joint judicial capitals for Vallee-du-Sapin.
The city of Genevrier-Ville is also noted for its wide variety of restaurants, and for actual authentic Mexican food which the restaurant has won awards. Run by a Mexican-American from Long Beach, California, he has been here since 1993 with his restaurant; it is noted for its authenticity and actual atmosphere, and remains a community hub.
To quote its owner Guillermo "Guillo" Raul Cazalla Rodriguez:
I came here to escape the warmth of Long Beach and the valleys here are brilliant. Sure, it's a lot to get used to but the country is brilliant. I still love my home country of the United States of America, but here is home now.
He is quite a respected figure, even at the age of 63, and is a celebrity within the town, and is noted for charitable food donations; this is not simply PR to make him look good, but he genuinely believes in it.
His family are dual US/Swiss Eichenfeldian citizens.
Demographically, the town mostly consists of French or Italian-speaking people, with 8,486 German-speaking residents, of Swiss-German-Eichenfeldian heritage.
There is also a notable Chinese population here, and the Chinatown numbers 2,380 people, mostly of local Chinese heritage, or Chinese-Filipino heritage. It is noted for how authentically Chinese it feels and the amount of interesting shops and restaurants.
Mandarin Chinese is not the dominant dialect; instead Xiang, Hakka and Pinghua are spoken.
Han Chinese people are not as common as Zhuang, Hui and Manchu people.
Within the town, you will find a small amount of wealthy people, often driving high-end luxury cars, most notably Mercedes-Benz or Audi, although the occasional Ferrari, Aston Martin or Lamborghini is seen.
For people on more regular incomes, Peugeot, Fiat, Citroen, Volkswagen, Volvo, Toyota or Mitsubishi cars are common.
There is also an automobile assembly plant near the city limits which assembles a clone of the Volkswagen Crafter, designed and built by a firm from West Bromwich Holme.
The town is twinned with Ashton-super-Halse, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland & West Bromwich Holme since 1989.
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