Celebration of Life Concert Kicks Off PTown's Annual Swim for Life Events

Voices and spirits will be raised at Provincetown's annual Celebration of Life.

At 8 PM tonight Provincetown's 31st annual Swim for Life weekend will be launched with a free concert held at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, at 236 Commercial Street.
This celebration is perhaps the most joyous event to take place in Provincetown every year.
Typically this show has included all sorts of music and song, perhaps a bit of comedy, maybe spoken word, drumming, poetry or any other sort of  mirth or amusement dreamed up by both amateur and professional performers. Tonight they will regale a packed house with a buoyant, uplifting. inspirational evening of entertainment.

The first swimmer reaches the shoreline, cheered on by the crowd.

All of this is the prelude to tomorrow's Swim for Life, the yearly fundraising event of the Community Compact. More than 400 swimmers will plunge into Provincetown Harbor for an open water swim of 1.4 miles from Long Point Light to the Boatslip Beach Club. Over the years, the Swim has raised more than $4 million dollars for HIV/AIDs, women's health, and community organizations.
When the last swimmer has reached the shoreline, the Mermaid Brunch will begin, on the deck of the Boatslip, with entertainment, the awards ceremony, and a buffet catered by Far Land Provisions. All of these events are free and open to the public. We thank more than 150 volunteers who make all of this happen, and guard the safety of the swimmers and all of the participants.
Go to the concert, cheer on the swimmers, and join us for brunch! Visit swim4life.org for more information or to join the swim!

Hot Ticket: Favorite Poem Project Benefits PTown's Fine Arts Work Center Fri Aug 10

On Friday night we'll be treated to a remarkable evening of "favorite poems" read by luminaries from the worlds of music, theater, politics, journalism, art, and, of course, poetry. The program is a benefit for the Fine Arts Work Center, at 24 Pearl Street in Provincetown. Each year FAWC helps to raise up a new crop of emerging writers and visual artists through various fellowships and programs of the center.
The diversity of the night's readers is evidenced above. From acclaimed playwright Tony Kushner to genius singer/songwriter Patty Larkin, from State Senator Julian Cyr to renowned poet Eileen Myles, this manifold group of readers will no doubt bring us a presentation that is both thought provoking and entertaining. Writer/director/actor Ryan Landry has a bit of a bad boy image, but I'm willing to bet that he'll surprise us one way or another with his selection, because that's what he does.
Whether you prefer open seating or priority, which includes reserved seats and an After Party with the readers, you'll want to get tickets right away. Click here for tickets or go online later at fawc.org/tickets/. Don't miss this week's Hot Ticket!

See (or Be) the UU Meeting House Annual Talent/No-Talent Show on Sat., May 12th

Come and see the show at the UU Meeting House, at 336 Commercial Street, or sign up to be part of the show yourself. Whether you are quite talented, or, not so much, you can perform before a supportive audience of folks who are likely to applaud anything. Groups as well as solo acts are welcome.
Are you secretly a comic? Do you sing a little, dance like a dream, read poetry, or have no discernible talent whatsoever but want to play your banjo solo anyway? Sign up by calling Char at 508•487•4193, or e-mail her at chartone@aol.com.
You'll want to be there by 6:00 PM with dessert or finger food to share in the "bistro" that will be set up for the evening, but don't be late because the show starts at 6:30. Come even earlier if you want to help set up the bistro and theater.
The evening will also feature an auction for services that will be sold to the highest bidder. You can offer a service yourself by e-mailing Will at Will.Hildreth@gmail.com, or call him at 310•486•2900. Or perhaps you'll win the bid for someone to come and clean out your rain gutters, or do your grocery shopping, crochet an afghan or bake you some cookies. There's no telling what sort of services might be auctioned off.
So get to the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House on Saturday and have some fun. Those folks are among the most vital champions of just about every Provincetown group or cause you can name, and they certainly deserve our support.

It's Souper Saturday, Benefitting Provincetown's Amazing Soup Kitchen

SKIP has been serving meals in PTown since 1992.

One of Provincetown’s greatest, most delicious fundraising affairs is Souper Saturday, held during our annual Holly Folly event, on the first Saturday of December every year.

This event benefits SKIP, the Soup Kitchen In Provincetown, which will provide an estimated 13,000 hot, nutritious meals for Outer Cape residents over the winter, at no charge. To do this, they will need to raise close to $100,000 this year to help their volunteers to continue this remarkable community service.

I’m going to prime you for Souper Saturday by teasing you with photos of great soups I’ve had in PTown restaurants as I go on. Some of these will definitely be offered today from 11:30AM to 3:30 PM at Tin Pan Alley, at 269 Commercial Street, in the heart of Provincetown.

Littlenecks and fresh-snipped herbs make
The Canteen's clam chowder a favorite.

Founded in 1992, the Soup Kitchen is now open to the public every weekday from November through April, holidays included. Volunteers prepare and serve soup, salad, an entrée with side dishes, as well as beverages and desert, for around 80 to 100 people each day. Thanksgiving saw about 175 folks from all walks of life enjoy a splendid meal together, as well as the feeling of community provided by this remarkable resource. Local musicians gave us live music for the occasion.

At the end of each day’s meal, food is also packed for guests to take home, or to drop off to various folks who can’t always get to the luncheon, held Monday through Friday till the last full week of April, at the United Methodist Church, at 10 Shank Painter Road.

The Red Inn is known for their
hearty lobster corn chowder

The volunteers are looking to further expand their services this year. They’re experimenting with offering an extra, different meal on Fridays, in addition to lunch. It’s an entrée, packed and ready to go, so guests can have a meal over the weekend. As with the regular meals, there’s a meat and a side dish, with an all-vegetarian option available as well. This could prove to be a great help for a lot of people struggling with the high cost of living in Provincetown.

SKIP helps to bridge the financial gap for folks living in a seasonal economy, with the vast majority of the Outer Cape population having no employment in the wintertime. The Soup Kitchen also provides a place to meet and socialize, to connect with others in a community where people can sometimes feel isolated in the solitude of the off-season. The volunteers work hard to provide a genuinely warm, welcoming atmosphere as well as healthful, nutritious meals, and absolutely everyone is welcome.

Ross' Grill knocked my socks off one
day with this amazing fennel bisque.

You can help, too, simply by having a scrumptious lunch today, on Souper Saturday, at this fun, festive, mouthwatering event. More than two-dozen restaurants and delis are donating cauldrons of favorite soups so you’ll have a chance to taste several, if you’d like. A $5 donation will get you a ticket so you can choose a cup of any soup you’d like from a very long table with volunteers ready to serve you.

When a particular soup runs out, another variety from a different restaurant will be brought out of the kitchen, so the soups will change throughout the afternoon. There are bound to be clam chowders, lobster bisques, as well as choices for vegetarians. I'm hoping for a roasted vegetable soup or a butternut squash. Of course, in PTown, you’re likely to find a couple of Portuguese favorites like kale soup, or maybe a squid stew. There may be a beef barley, or perhaps a fennel bisque or corn chowder, or any other whim of some of the town’s best chefs. There’s no telling what delights might be offered for lunch today.

This chicken soup with Thai and Mexican
chilis made me love the Mews all the more.

I usually get two or three tickets, because I want to taste more than one soup. I’ve also seen folks who will sit down to two or three cups of the very same soup, like a favorite clam chowder, for instance. You can also come early and enjoy one variety, starting at 11:30 AM, and stop back later for another taste as the soups change during the day. Anything goes, and all of the proceeds will go to SKIP, so eat generously. The event runs until 3:30 PM.

You can also stop in at the old firehouse across the street, at 240 Commercial Street, for something new this year, and this is going to be very popular…

You can pick up cold quarts of soup for $10 each, packed “to go” for you to warm up later, for dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow.

Restaurant from PTown to Wellfleet
each brought their own version of kale
soup to the 2017 Portuguese Festival.

So that makes meals inexpensive and very easy to handle, too, as you’re busy shopping and attending Holly Folly events. Whether you live in town or have rented a condo for the weekend, you can gather friends and family and have your own soup tasting without having to cook. That will help SKIP to raise the money to continue providing a place of community, as well as thousands of free meals in the coming year.

By the way, you’ll want to do a little of your holiday shopping at the firehouse as well, where you’ll find useful items that make great gifts. SKIP merchandise such as soup or coffee mugs, tee shirts, caps, water bottles and oven mitts will be on sale there. Again, all proceeds benefit the Soup Kitchen

Some like their clam chowder thick and
chunky, like this one at Bayside Betsy's.

If you are reading this from somewhere far from Cape Cod, or are otherwise unable to attend Souper Saturday, you can make a contribution to the Soup Kitchen by check, debit card, credit card or PayPal, through their website, or simply send a check SKIP at PO Box 538, Provincetown, MA 02657. SKIP is a registered 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation, so donations are fully tax-deductible.

There's no telling which restaurants will make an appearance at this great event, and some might surprise us by bringing something unexpected, but that's half the fun of this shindig. With soups from nearly 30 Outer Cape eateries, there will definitely be something for everyone, and you may end up tasting soups from a couple of spots you've never visited. Excellent!

This spicy squid stew livened up the
Portuguese Festival one year. I believe
it was a surprise from the Lobster Pot.

I hope to meet you over a bowl of soup today at Tin Pan Alley. We thank them for their generous donation of their restaurant for the day. We thank the chefs and kitchen staffs of all of the restaurants and delis sending huge pots of wonderful soups for our lunches and dinners. Don't forget to stop at the firehouse for soup to go, and a holiday gift or two. 

And, as always, we thank the leaders and volunteers of  the Soup Kitchen  for their remarkable commitment and service to Provincetown and the greater community of the Outer Cape. Help them out… Have some Soup!

30th Annual Swim for Life in Provincetown This Weekend

The first weekend after Labor Day always brings the annual Swim for Life to Provincetown Harbor. It's a challenging 1.4 mile swim, in open water, from the lighthouse on Long Point to the shores of the Boatslip Beach Club, on the edge of the harbor in Provincetown's West End neighborhood. Click to read about Swim for Life history. To date, the event has raised some $4 Million for AIDS, women's health and our community. It is perhaps the most joyous outpouring of love, energy and spirit in Provincetown every year. We invite you to join us!

The Celebration of Life is the year's most anticipated concert.
It is perhaps the most uplifting event in PTown every year.

Whether you are a swimmer, a volunteer, or a "cheerleader" on the beach, hooting, hollering and applauding the swimmers as they reach the shore, you'll want to be a part of this. Many people will participate by attending the lovely Celebration of Life on the night before the swim. This marvelous, free concert, produced by John Thomas, will take place at 8 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, at 236 Commercial Street, tonight, Friday, September 8th, 2017. Dozens of performers, singers, musicians and others will definitely raise the spirits of a packed house, so go early to get a seat. The UU is wheelchair accessible.

Swimmers and paddlers will assemble at Long Point Light
for the 11 AM start of Provincetown's annual Swim for Life.

The Swim will begin at 11 AM on Long Point, with boat rides provided to get swimmers to the starting point. Kayakers, paddle boarders and folks in boats will accompany the swimmers safely across the harbor. Click to find out about registering as a swimmer or a volunteer, which happens Saturday morning at the Boatslip. Whether you're a swimmer or are cheering them on, it's exhilarating.

The first swimmer reaches the Boatslip, greeted by a cheering
crowd. The Mermaid Brunch and awards follow on the deck.

The Mermaid Brunch, a free buffet catered by Far Land Provisions, will be held at the Boatslip from noon until 2 PM, with Zoë Lewis and friends entertaining. Around 1 PM, or whenever the last swimmer safely reaches the shore, Swim founder Jay Critchley will lead the awards ceremony for swimmers who have raised the most money in pledges or have participated in the most swims. This is another inspiring event giving all a feeling of community, even those who have joined us from other parts of the world. Many people return to PTown every year to participate in the Swim for Life.

It all started with 18 swimmers raising $6,000.
This photo shows Jay Critchley and Roger Beatty registering two unknown swimmers  at a makeshift desk on the beach in the first Swim, in 1988. 
This year we'll see over 150 volunteers making it happen, and more than 400 swimmers taking the plunge. Come and join us for some or all of these events and be a part of the 30^th, the 2017 Swim for Life and Paddler Flotilla, September 8^th and 9^th in Provincetown!

Sisters in the Name of Love: A Benefit Performance Supporting Two Essential Provincetown Health Organizations

Sisters in the Name of Love is always one of the greatest romps of the year in PTown entertainment!

Since the late 1980s one of the most highly anticipated, "must see" PTown shows has been the annual fundraising extravaganza known as Sisters in the Name of Love. It's safe to say that every drag queen in town will be on stage at some point during the evening, whether professional, amateur, hobbyist or complete novice, and that's all part of the fun of this mammoth evening of entertainment.
Seasoned performers as well as those less familiar to us will entertain a packed house at the Crown & Anchor this Tuesday, June 6th, beginning at 8 PM. There may be singers, along with comics, musicians, you name it… any sort of entertainment at all may turn up, with a particular emphasis on comedy and drag. There will be lots of big hair, sequins and boas, not to mention attitude. These queens are here to wrench the cash out of your hands for a very good cause: the health, support and wellbeing of hundreds of clients who depend on a little help from the ASGCC and HOW.
The Aids Support Group of Cape Cod began as a little Provincetown organization, among the first in the US to address the AIDS crisis back in the 1980s. It has now been greatly expanded, depending largely on a dedicated league of volunteers, and currently serves clients throughout the entire Cape and Islands. They provide counseling and support; testing, prevention, screening and nutrition services; rides to medical appointments; assistance with housing and utilities, and a host of other services.
How is Helping Our Women, another volunteer-based organization that started with a handful of women responding to the lack of services available to a friend newly diagnosed with cancer in 1992. By 1993 they had raised the money to incorporate as a full-fledged nonprofit, opening a resource and referral center for women in Provincetown who were facing the illness. By 1994 they had expanded to offer services to local women with all types of chronic, life-threatening and/or debilitating illnesses, and now offer those services and many more to women in the towns of Truro, Wellfleet and Eastham, as well as in PTown. A small monthly stipend for complimenting therapies, alternative treatments, or even utility assistance is also available to women meeting income guidelines.

These are two wonderful organizations, depending largely on funding from contributions by the general public. This yearly benefit provides a good bit of their annual budgets, as well as rollicking entertainment for our community, so be there or be square! Doors open at 7 PM, so you'll want to come a little early for a good seat and a cocktail, or two, and a bit of socializing before the show. There's likely to be an auction or two at some point in the evening, perhaps for souvenirs of the show or sometimes for priceless memorabilia, so bring your checkbook along as well.
The suggested donation for admission is just $10 at the door, but you'll want to bring fistfuls of dollar bills as well. It's customary to tip drag queens for superior entertainment, and you'll certainly want to show your wild appreciation for the outrageous costumes, performances and personas of the evening. The entertainers, in turn, will donate all their tips - every last dollar. Every crumpled, beer-soaked, martini-dripping dollar will go to providing services to clients of HOW and the ASGCC. Lets hope they're still counting the cash the next morning. See you there!

Provincetown Memorial Day Fire Fund Benefit

Two Provincetown clubs are holding benefits tonight for workers displaced by the Memorial Day fire, to buy equipment for our remarkable fire department, and to help rebuild the four Lopes Square restaurants which were damaged or devastated by the three-alarm fire that sent black smoke into the sky over the center of town last Saturday evening.
Read the posters on this page for details.
First, visit The Underground Bar, down the flight of stairs you'll find at 293 Commercial Street, with music and entertainment getting underway at 9 PM.

Next, get to Velvet dance club, at 258 Commercial Street, tucked away between Town Hall and the big red stairway that leads to JD's. You'll have time to get to both parties, with each going until closing time at 1 AM.
With a fire of this magnitude striking at the very beginning of the summer season, dozens upon dozens of people suddenly have no income. Employers, their employees, and even suppliers for these businesses will be hurt by this loss of revenue.
Please help to ease the burden by attending these two events.
Provincetown has the last all-volunteer fire department on Cape Cod. These remarkable men and women have once again saved our bacon, by preventing a very serious fire from spreading to other buildings, wedged cheek-by-jowel into this densely packed, little wooden town.  We also thank roughly 50 firefighters from towns as far away as Chatham and Harwich for their assistance and the equipment they brought to quickly squelch the flames and prevent greater damage.
If you can't attend either of these events, or even if you make it to both of them, you can also make a donation to the online account that's been set up to receive contributions to benefit our fire department and the people who lost their incomes in this fire. I had never contributed to this sort of online fundraiser before a couple of nights ago, when I found that this process was quick and painless. It doesn't take more than a moment to make a real difference for folks who can use a little help.
Go to gofundme.com/provincetown-memorial-day-fire-fund to help out our neighbors. You know they would do the same for you!