Provincetown Offers Holiday Revelers 150 Shops, Galleries, Restaurants and Accommodations

Good Scents, at 351 Commercial Street, brings us fragrant
products from around the world, joined by at least 80 more
PTown boutiques and galleries open for your holiday shopping.

I took a spin around the streets of Provincetown the other day and found more than 150 businesses open for folks who want to shop, eat and play in the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere of our holiday season. I counted more than 80 stores, boutiques, gift shops, galleries, hand crafters, and other unique purveyors of various goods and finery before I lost count of them all.

Tonight, Mac's Italian style celebration highlights seven varieties of
seafood. Click on the link at the left for Mac's New Year's Eve menu.

There are more than two-dozen wonderful restaurants open to serve you anything from a great deli sandwich to a splendid holiday meal with wine pairings and live music. You can enjoy shoulder season bargains and specials or immerse yourself in fine dining at its best.
Mac's Fish House, for example, offers choices ranging from its famous all-you-can-eat fish and chips dinner on Thursday nights for just $16, to tonight's Feast of the Seven Fishes. This special meal is a traditional Italian holiday feast.
Mac's is also pulling out all the stops for its special New Year's Eve Dinner, beginning with an amuse-bouche, followed by six courses, then dessert, with optional wine pairings available as well. This fabulous meal will be followed by live music from the Rip It Ups. A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit SKIP, the Soup Kitchen in Provincetown. Call 508 487-6227 to inquire about reservations.

Click on the link at the right to reserve a room online, or call
508 364-2549 for the White Porch Inn's special winter rates.

Lodging in PTown varies widely from rustic simplicity to stylish elegance.
The multiple award-winning White Porch Inn, for example, is a jewel among dozens of inns, B&Bs, guest houses and hotels in Provincetown that are open throughout the holiday season. In fact, this fine inn and a number of others stay open year-round, often featuring great bargains on seasonal rates.
This immaculate B&B has the charming look of an old sea captain's home, while the thoughtfully renovated interior provides a unique backdrop for contemporary paintings by artists from all around the world. Guests often become attached to a particular painting during their stay. Happily, many of these artworks are for sale, gaining the place a fine reputation as an Art Hotel. In an international survey of comments and ratings by its visitors, the White Porch Inn scored 9.7 out of 10, which ranks it among the top 3 percent of those surveyed hotels around the world.

Suede's unique talent defies description,; her voice is truly her own. MUST SEE!

The jazzy, bluesy, fabulous vocals of Suede will be oozing out of the Paramount at The Crown & Anchor on New Year's day as the diva takes the stage at 8 PM.
In fact, The Crown & Anchor will be a very busy place over the holidays, with Bobby Wetherbee's famous sing-along piano bar, Thirsty Burlington's Christmas Special, drag bingo to benefit the Provincetown Business Guild, and a huge New Year's Eve dance party.
There will be special menus in the restaurant, along with Peter's award-winning wine list, and special room rates, too. There will also be a food court on New Year's Day as part of Provincetown's First Light celebration, and this will be a great spot to watch the fireworks that evening. Click the links above to see all the things going on at the Crown.
Come and enjoy Provincetown for the holidays, with something for everyone. Visit the PBG website for the First Light event schedule, including parties, entertainment, Hanukkah festivities, family fun, European style holiday market, a bike event, indoor farmers market, polar bear plunge, fireworks, and food events all over town. There's also a list of lodging and restaurants open to serve you. Come Join us! Create a New Year's tradition for yourself with our 2nd annual First Light celebration.

On PTown Streets During Carnival Week...

Eddie and Jamie, from Connecticut and New Jersey, made their fabulous costumes,
and are frequent visitors, always looking forward to Provincetown's Carnival week.

Carnival always brings lots of great costumes and characters to Commercial Street. Eddie and Jamie, above, hail from Connecticut and New Jersey, are fairly frequent visitors to Provincetown, and try to make it here for Carnival every year. They don't miss many. They made their wonderful, whimsical costumes, and get extra points for a look that is topical (Viva Las Vegas!) funny, and sexy.

Emily and Jeff, still best friends since college. 

Emily and Jeff were best friends in college a number of years ago in Texas and have remained close through the years. Both are now architects. When Emily and her husband stumbled into Provincetown during Carnival last year, they couldn't believe they hadn't known about this beautiful place and this week-long party, and, it turns out, neither had Jeff. So this year Emily brought Jeff here for his first visit to Provincetown, dressed in a tank top and pants featuring the King of Hearts and other playing cards, and Emily made her hat of giant playing cards. I found them making their way to Tea Dance, Jeff's first, but he'll certainly be back to PTown for more.

Rick and John exhibit all the showmanship of
legendary Las Vegas icons Seigfried and Roy.

Siegfried and Roy (AKA Rick from Denver and John from Boston) are also frequent visitors and love Carnival week in Provincetown.
I found them on Commercial Street on their way from a party, and heading up Masonic Place toward the A-House. They were quite the showmen, and their iconic outfits with plunging v-necks, big rings and even bigger hair were completed with tigers, one biting Roy's neck, illustrating the tragedy that ended Siegfried and Roy's long-running career on the Vegas Strip, 10 years ago this autumn.

Steve nails the essence of Phyllis Diller.

Steve owns Wardrobe, a popular women's clothing store at 213 Commercial Street, and put together the perfect outfit as he morphed into legendary Las Vegas performer Phyllis Diller, a groundbreaking comedienne who appeared regularly on Vegas stages from 1964 until 2002. Steve completely nailed her charm, mannerisms, and her look, from her foot-long cigarette holder to her frazzled, trademark mop of shaggy blond hair.

There's never been enough money printed in the history of the
world to get me to don a pair of shoes like this for even 10 minutes.

When I met Chris, from South Boston, it was after midnight, and he was barely able to walk, having worn these shoes for hours as he made his way around town to a number of parties and events, traversing Commercial Street several times this evening.

Townies or visitors, players or spectators,
everyone turns out for Drag Bingo.

A wide range of characters will turn out for Drag Bingo every year, a benefit held on the lawn at the U. U. Meetinghouse. Many fundraisers take place over the course of Carnival week, raising money for local charities and non-profits, and Drag Bingo is a favorite of visitors and Townies alike, whether they are players or spectators.

What's another
word for sexy?

Costumes for Drag Bingo can be simple or elaborate, and some are even quite provocative. These folks are definitely turning heads as they make their way along Commercial Street as the bingo hour nears.

Bingo, anyone?

These two have transformed into the perfect pair of Vegas slot machine grannies, taking a break from the one-armed bandit to play a little bingo. A bit of padding, a few simple accessories and a really bad wig make these outfits flawless. These two could blend right in at any casino on The Strip, and they are certainly dressed for Drag Bingo. Viva Las Vegas!

By Popular Request, More PTown Carnival, Parade and Drag Bingo Photos...

This year's Carnival theme "Space Odyssey" obviously meant many different things to all the participants. See my August 15th blog post about  Aliens Roaming Commercial Street, and my August 16th post about sights seen on the day of the 2012 annual Carnival Parade. The costumes seen on Commercial Street both before and after the parade often rivaled those seen in the actual parade, with many celebrants obviously spending hours, and often a good bit of cash, on their outfits and props.
Drag Bingo also brought out a lot of costumes worn by most of the players, and by many who weren't actually playing Bingo in the Annual UU Meetinghouse fundraiser.

A striking costume found on Commercial Street, completely silver with a peacock headdress

"Sissies on Parade," strolling Commercial Street before and after Carnival Parade

A close-up of the alien and his spaceship on Marc Jacobs' float

Miss Mars rides down commercial street during Carnival parade

Phoo op for a visitor with Drag Bingo "cheerleader"

Party dresses come out of the closet for Drag Bingo

On their way to Drag Bingo these ladies are continuously asked to pose for delighted visitors

Every seat is filled for Drag Bingo

The glasses really make the outfit, don't you think?