PTown Decks the Halls, 2014

Holly Folly, Provincetown's gay and lesbian holiday celebration, is a fun festival for the whole town, with decorations, food, shopping, costumes and a full slate of special events and fundraisers taking place throughout our little village this Friday through Saturday, December 5th through the 7th. Last minute accommodations may be available.
I'll only mention a sampling of these great Holly Folly events in this column, but you'll find the complete Holly Folly schedule listed on the Provincetown Business Guild's website. For example, there will be a number of dance parties at various locations each night, and the annual Snow Ball, Friday night at 10 PM at the A House, will benefit the PBG.
•There'll be a gingerbread house decorating competition, with a $150 gift basket for the winning team.
•There'll be a food fair at Sage Inn, put on by producers of some surprising local specialty foods and treats.
•The Provincetown Art Association and Museum will host an open house with special exhibitions, and will offer small works, along with unusual and creative gifts for the art-lovers in your life.
•The Holly Folly Inn Stroll promises light refreshments and fabulous decorations at more than a dozen inns. One of several free events. Check the schedule for others.

Last year's participants in the first annual Santa Speedo Run. There's still time to register and gather pledges.

•The Santa Speedo Run, a mile along Commercial Street from Fanizzi's to the Crown and Anchor, benefits Cape Cod Firefighters - EMS Cancer Relief Fund. The runners will be treated to a champagne brunch by Barefoot Wines when they reach the Crown. There's still time to Register here and collect your pledges.
•A holiday concert by the Boston Gay Men's Chorus is always a highlight of Holly Folly. Get tickets now, or at the door at Town Hall, 8:30 Saturday night. It's a benefit for the Provincetown AIDS Memorial. A welcome party for the chorus on Friday night at the Shipwreck Lounge offers complimentary snacks.
•Holiday Drag Bingo will be Saturday at 3:30 PM at the Crown and Anchor, and that's bound to be a giggle. Benefits the Cape and Islands division of PFLAG and the PBG.

It's always hard to choose from all those
great soups, so I usually have two.

•The Souper Saturday benefit for Provincetown's excellent soup kitchen will be held at Tin Pan Alley this year, where $5 will buy you a bowl of soup of your choice, provided by a number of great Provincetown restaurants. Last winter, SKIP (Soup Kitchen In Provincetown) provided more than 10,000 meals for PTown and Outer Cape residents, so join us for a bowl (or two) of delicious soup, and get that warm feeling inside as you help out this wonderful nonprofit, and many others, during Holly Folly.

Film Screening Thursday Benefits the Matthew Shepard Foundation

This Thursday the Provincetown Film Society will present a special screening of Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, a new documentary commemorating the 15^th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming freshman who was kidnapped by two homophobic men he had met in a Laramie, Wyoming, bar. Matt was tortured, tied to a fence and left to die in one of the nations most notorious hate crimes on record. This vicious crime created headlines worldwide, and the universal condemnation of this horrendous act of violence started a crucial dialogue about hate crimes and intolerance toward LGBT people, leading to the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009.

This important 89 minute film, touring nationwide in theatrical and festival screenings. will be shown in Provincetown one night only, at 7 PM on Thursday, July 31, 2014, at the Waters Edge Cinema, on the second floor of Whalers Wharf, at 237 Commercial Street. The film will be followed by an audience Q&A with Matt’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, and director Michele Josue. The Q&A will be moderated by the Rev. Christie Hardwick, a local minister of the Centers for Spiritual Living. Tickets are $12, with all proceeds benefitting the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Get tickets online or at the Cinema box office.

Director Michele Josue was a 19-year-old film school student at Emerson College in Boston when she learned of the murder of her dear friend in Laramie. She says that before he “became ‘Matthew Shepard’—his identity forever tied to unspeakable violence and hate—he was just Matt, a normal kid who happened to be gay, with a loving family and supportive friends. He was real. And I think it’s important that the world knows that.”

Watch the trailer for '"Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine", and see the film this Thursday night at Waters Edge Cinema.