Editor’s Column – Hot Vax Summer: Get Out There!
Every summer has a story, and after a year of blank pages, we can finally write a great one. So, say goodbye to quarantine lockdown and your sweatpants hanging on by a thread. Let’s travel to Provincetown, MA, and have a rainbow-infested summer filled with warm adventure and fun birthday suit parties!
Provincetown, MA, a small coastal town on the tip of Cape Cod, is known for the historical landing of the Mayflower in 1620, beautiful harbors, one-of-a-kind artists and art galleries, and its status as a vacation destination for the LGBTQ community. Provincetown, for almost over a century, has beckoned queer travelers and locals to embrace the bohemian culture that reciprocally embraces the queer culture. Year after year, new LGBTQ travelers, and those who are more seasoned, embark on their ultimate, queer celebration destination. Whether you are a woman loving women, or gentleman loving gentlemen, both, somewhere in between, or neither, Provincetown has set aside calendar dates just to celebrate you and all your identity glory! Grab your favorite mask; load up on your preferred snacks, and let us hit the road to P-town, MA, the gayest town in America according to the Census Bureau.
By the time this article is published, we will have missed Provincetown Pride and Womxn of Color (sic) weekend. These action-packed celebrations take place in June, celebrating all things queer and the beautiful women of color who hold their important space both inside and outside the queer community. However, we still have much more to look forward to in this gay-friendly beach town. Beginning July 2-7, Provincetown hosts “Independence Week.” Independence Week is a seven-day, non-stop, action-fulfilled, and gay time celebrating America’s Independence. At the hub of the action is Crown and Anchor, the LGBTQ entertainment facility centered right in the middle of P-town’s queer venue. Drinking and dancing with the hottest queer crowd can be found at literally any time.
Summertime may not know much about lion and tigers, but it does know and love bears, oh my! July 10-18 is Bears Week in P-town! Provincetown Bear Week is the world’s largest bear gathering. Tens-of-thousands of queer men travel to P-town year after year to celebrate Bear parties, events, and more. Bears and bear lovers come to Provincetown to explore, bask, and celebrate nine days of bear pool parties, bear beach outings, bear cocktail nights, and nonstop bear dance parties. The hosts of this event pair with local, queer clubs and vendors to have a variety of entertainment and meals. Though this a party you will not want to miss, please feel free to get to your bear beauty sleep in too; this is a nine-day vacation after all!
Ladies, P-town did not forget about you! July 21–24 is Girl Splash, a lesbian/bisexual/queer women extravaganza. Days filled with queer women comedians, artists, and performers are only the beginning for this ladies’ occasion. There are lesbian beach outings you will not want to miss, including a whale-watching boat tour hosting only queer women! If ocean adventures are not your scene, pool parties and cocktails are flowing all day and night. Queer women who are looking for it all, P-town has it for you this latter part of July. You do not want to skip this queer women celebration and liberation!
Last event this summer (don’t worry; there is more to come this fall and winter.) is Carnival Week August 15–21. This celebration of LGBTQ culture and life, themed “Somewhere Under the Rainbow,” is a guarantee of fabulous fun and creative ways to celebrate our community. The Carnival, a leading, outdoor, queer event, attracts more than 100,000 fellows from all walks of life in fête of cultivating, protecting, and honoring both diversity and queer business.
We finally have a summer where we can safely observe and rejoice in our diversity outdoors and together. It is a summer worth celebrating now more than ever. Provincetown, MA, has festivities and celebrations for all walks of queer life. Provincetown’s edifying principle confirms that the townspeople not only accept people for who they are, but actually celebrate people because of it. Let us get excited this summer and safely treasure our community together.
