Provincetown: Summer’s Must-Do Events

OMG, Miss Richfield 1981

This just in highlights from the Provincetown Business Guild 2013 Calendar. For great trip-planning information, check out our Provincetown Long Weekend article in our September issue. (Download the magazine here.)

• June 26-30: Provincetown International Film Festival. The 15th annual Provincetown International Film Festival is dedicated to showing new achievements in independent film and honoring the work of acclaimed and emerging directors, actors and producers.
• July 1-7: Independence Week 2013. World-class DJs and parties make this the most popular July 4th destination on the circuit.
• July 23-27: Girl Splash. The destination summer event for lesbians. Pool party, clam bakes, dune tours, and white hot dances. Come play at the beach!
• August 3-10: Family Pride Week. A chance for children to meet other children with LGBT parents and for parents to meet other parents and share experiences. A parade and plenty of activities for all ages.
• August 18-24: Carnival Week celebrates its 35th birthday! A week-long celebration of the 2013 theme “Viva Las Vegas” that transforms Provincetown into one big party. Boat cruise, inn stroll, music, special events, and of course, the famous carnival parade on the 22nd that attracts over 65,000 viewers and marches the length of Commercial Street.

Broadway Queen Alert: Linda Eder In Provincetown August 13-14

One of the greatest belter of our time and she’s pretty to boot.

If you know Linda Eder, you’ll probably want to consider a trip to Provincetown specifically to see her. She’s performing at the Crown and Anchor for two nights only—August 13 and 14 at 8:30pm.

Note: that is Carnival Week, one of the busiest and most fun weeks of the year for America’s favorite LGBT resort town and the local’s favorite celebration so be sure to make your reservations soon.

If you don’t know Ms. Eder, listen to her on YouTube with her perfect soaring spine-tingling voice, best known for Broadway belting but also proficient in a host of other genres from pop to country. Gay cred? She names Judy Garland, Barbara Streisand and Eileen Farrell as main inspirations, for heaven’s sake.

Info/tix: http://www.onlyatthecrown.com/entertainment/performer.php?id=88

Here she is taking on Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on my Parade.”

See Armistead Maupin in Provincetown This Summer

Photo courtesy: Flickr.com
flairinnovationmayhem/6790880217/

Fans of Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann Singleton, and Mouse, take note!

Armistead Maupin, author of the beloved Tales of the City series, is scheduled to make his first-ever public appearance in Provincetown at the Crown & Anchor’s Paramount Nightclub on July 9 at 4pm.

Maupin will read from the latest in this long-running tale, The Days of Anna Madrigal, a work in progress. Tickets are available here.

From the organizers:

Ticketholders to TEATIME WITH ARMISTEAD MAUPIN can expect an afternoon of free-wheelinganecdotes and lively conversation with the audience – aswell as a brief reading from Maupin’s current work-in-progress, The Days of Anna Madrigal.

“It’s very useful to me,” says Maupin, “to try out my material on a sympatheticlive audience before it’s set in print.” The author’s books will be available at the event for purchase and signing.

 

Provincetown: Something For Everyone

Colorful fashions, homemade we’d guess

The folks from Provincetown tourism rounded up a terrific array of events and activities for travelers of all sorts from gay and lesbian to nature lovers to culture vultures.

Here’s their hot list.

For the LGBT Visitor

Provincetown’s reputation as a gay and lesbian mecca began in the 1920s when the town was a summer destination for artists, writers, playwrights, poets, socialists, radicals and dilettantes. This reputation was fostered throughout the 20^th century thanks to summer regulars taking up permanent residency and purchasing local businesses to further entrench themselves in the town’s fabric. Today, Provincetown, the “Gayest City in the U.S.” according to the 2010 Census, attracts a wide swath of summer visitors for its annual LGBT events and festivals.

• Provincetown Bear Week (July 7-13, 2012)

A Provincetown tradition, Bear Week celebrates the bear community and their admirers with a week of tea dances, galas, barbecues, dance parties, performances and more. (www.ptownbears.org)

• Provincetown Family Week (July 28 – August 4, 2012)

As an organization that celebrates diversity and promotes community building for same-sex parents raising children, the Family Equality Council sponsors a week of family-oriented picnics, clambakes, activities, unity and pride parades and more. Events are open to all families. (familyequality.org)

• Carnival (August 12-18, 2012)

Rivaling the diversity and energy of Rio, Provincetown celebrates Carnival every August with this year’s theme being “Ptown: A Space Odyssey.” Events include DJs spinning dance music, karaoke, the infamous Gay Pride Parade (August 16) with floats down Commercial Street, art exhibits, boat cruises and more. (ptown.org/Carnival)

 For Lesbians

• Single Women’s Weekend May 18 – 20, 2012
• Memorial Day Weekend May 24 – 28, 2012
• Women of Color Weekend May 30 – June 3, 2012
• Girl Splash: The Women’s Summer Party July 17 – 21, 2012
• October Women’s Week October 8 – 14, 2012

Our Thoughts Shift to Provincetown’s Independence Day Parties

From last year's pier dance (Independence 2011)

It’s never to early to daydream about Provincetown in the summer. Here we are barely a third of the way through February and our mental travels take us to the tip of Cape Cod for July 4.

It definitely isn’t too early to start planning. That is after all an incredibly busy week. Some guesthouses sell out as do some of the key parties. It’s also the week most of the party crowd from NYC and LA heads to P-town. So take that as a heads up to act or as a warning to steer clear!

Our friends at the Crown & Anchor, organizers of Independence 2012 sent us some useful, partyplanning information. (After the fold below.) Tickets go on sale around March 6, 2012.

The Crown & Anchor dance complex is home to Ptown’s July 4th nightclub celebrations-and they promise an outstanding lineup from Saturday, June 30 through Friday, July 7.

Info

• Ticket sales for INDEPENDENCE 2012 will be available starting on or around March 6, 2012 at www.onlyatthecrown.com or call 1-888-CROWN29 for more details.
• Email inquiries please send to rick@onlyatthecrown.com.

Halloween in Provincetown: Blown Away

The surprisingly fierce late autumn snow storm that pounded the Mid-Atlantic and New England largely spared Provincetown. Except for driving, near-horizontal rain and gale-force wind.

Of course wintry gusts aren’t exactly drag-queen-wig friendly. The streets on Saturday night were largely devoid of revelers except those scurrying towards a dry interior in search of a warming libation. Wave Bar, A House and other gay haunts were packed to the rafters with zombies, 7-foot drag queens, and a couple of rakish squadrons of “post don’t-ask-don’t-tell” gay military personnel.

My lair in Hatches Harbor at the elegant White Porch Inn provided the perfect perch from which to observe and enjoy the storm in warmth and comfort. Formerly the owner’s quarters, this long room stretches the length of the house. Sitting beneath the roof, the ceilings are pitched. Any one taller than about 6′ 0″ may wish to reserve another room. (Click here for your options.)

Hatches Harbor includes an en suite shower, a private balcony with great views (see below for a photo from here of the approaching storm clouds), a mini-fridge, and a super comfortable Tempur-Pedic bed. Check out more pictures and guest comments on their Facebook page. Guests also enjoy a gourmet continental breakfast with fresh fruit and bread, cereal, juice, coffee, tea, yogurt and one warm, h0me baked option included in the rate.

Halloween is a gay high holiday, especially in Ptown. The better guesthouses book up quickly. It’s not too early to reserve.

View from White Porch Inn

Provincetown Takes Halloween Very Seriously

Provincetown, Massachusetts is mad about Halloween.

The town and its businesses have organized a lengthy list of events from Spooky Yoga and Witches Brew Ball to a Masquerade to a Spooky Bear Rocky Horror Screening throughout the weekend. For a complete list of events, visit: http://www.ptown.org/halloween.asp. The big night will be Saturday when ghouls, goblins and 7-foot Chers invade town. Watch out for spontaneous flash mobs all over town. Be sure to bring your camera.

Need a last-minute costume idea? Fret not! Lots of stores offer everything you’ll need for that horny sailor look or bedraggled drag queen ensemble you’re envisioning. Ptown.org lists at least two Halloween headquarters near town center: Klymax and House of La Rue at 207 and 244 Commercial, respectively.

Just how seriously do they take it? Your intrepid reporter will grab his pen and pad and spend the weekend in Ptown researching the

White Porch happy hour

scary goings on. Stay tuned for an update.

This reporter’s headquarters will be the White Porch Inn, a luxurious gay-owned inn just east of town center that I’ve visited but never stayed in.

To the right are a few happy guests enjoying complimentary happy hour this past summer at the White Porch.

Info:

Ptown Halloween info: http://www.ptown.org/halloween.asp

White Porch: http://www.whiteporchinn.com

UPDATE: Here’s a recommended pub crawl from an ‘in the know’ Provincetown local:

Tea dance will be open, then Harbor Lounge, Shipwreck (at the Brass Key), Porch Bar and A-house.

Provincetown Scares Up Halloween Fun

Ptown in early fall

Many travelers think of Provincetown as a summer destination with the town closed up after Labor Day. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, many travelers love visiting in September and October with warm days and cool nights and those oh-so-cozy fireplaces in many of the guesthouses.

One of the most fun weekends is Halloween. Everyone wears costumes and you’ll find groups of people wearing matching ensembles. There are house parties and general happy mayhem throughout town with spontaneous outbreaks of synchronized dancing and silliness up and down Commercial.

This year after an absence of many decades the Masquerade Ball (formerly the Beaux Arts Ball)  is back, Saturday, October 29 from 8pm till 11pm. It’s sold out but you can check out the comings and goings of the lucky folks who scarfed up tickets for the first major event at the lovingly restored Town Hall — a true marvel of the Victorian era spruced up with $6 million in renovations. The ball is sponsored by Marc Jacobs.

Click here for more Halloween goings on in Provincetown.

Provincetown: The True Top

If you really want to see Provincetown, climb the 116 steps of the Pilgrim Monument, erected from 1907-1910 to commemorate the first landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in Provincetown on November 21, 1620. It’s 252 feet high and 350 feet above sea level making it without question the highest spot in town.

Our ace photographer Tom Shirk, owner of the casually elegant and “beachy chic” White Porch Inn, climbed those stairs yesterday so you, dear reader, can enjoy these spectacular shots of Provincetown taken a day after Irene swept through from the comfort of your home or office.

Provincetown after Irene: Still Gay

Menacing clouds and surf.

Above is a picture of Irene as it started to affect Provincetown on Saturday before Irene struck.

Below is a picture of guys at tea dance that same day, an iconic daily event at the Boatslip Resort from 4PM to 7PM sharp. Can’t keep the boys away no matter what.

Boatslip

Below is a picture of the aftermath: sand dunes on Commercial St, the main drag. Not bad though considering how bad it could have been.

Sand dunes on Commercial

Finally a post-hurricane shot. It’s a gorgeous day in Provincetown.

The calm after the storm