Swim for Life and Paddler Flotilla: Sep 8

25th Provincetown Harbor Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla : Sep 8

Provincetown Harbor Swim for Life

Provincetown Harbor is designated a “safe harbor” and is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. The Swim for Life is both a fundraising event and a celebration of this unique geological gift that gave birth to Provincetown and its symbiotic relationship to the sea. The activation of this water with human bodies navigating its magical essence, along with the neon-colored swim caps and kayaks, has become an important community tradition as we become more aware of the fragility of the natural environment and our place within it.

Come immerse yourself in the 1.4 mile swim, glide across the harbor’s surfaces as a swimmer or kayaker, or welcome swimmers on shore as a volunteer or cheerleader.

Or witness.

Swim for Life swimmers and paddlers  

Calendar of Events – all events free and open to the public

Friday thru Monday, August 24-27: Swim25: 2,500 Prayer Ribbons

Provincetown Public Library, front lawn, 356 Commercial Street

Saturday, noon to 6:00pm, table at library with information, Prayer Ribbons, t-shirts and Swim caps

Sunday, August 26, 2:00-5:30pm, public reading of messages and names of Prayer Ribbons (volunteer reader sign up and info table from noon)

Ribbons outside the Provincetown Public Library

Sunday, August 26, 5:30-8:30pm, Swim25 Provincetown Party, Harbor Lounge, 359 Commercial Street; open to the public, recognizing Circle of Honor, Volunteer Awardees and volunteers, kayakers and businesses sponsors

Friday, September 7, 2012 Swimmer Orientation (optional) – 1:00pm

Kayaker Orientation (optional) – 2:00pm

Boatslip Resort Beach, 161 Commercial Street

Celebration of Life Concert

UU Meeting House – 8:00pm, 236 Commercial Street (free)

Saturday, September 8 Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, BoatslipResort, 161 Commercial Street

8:30-10:00am Kayak/Paddler Flotilla/Safety Boat Registration, Boatslip Beach

9:00-10:00am Swimmer Registration, Boatslip Deck

Transport of swimmers to Long Point

10:30am Swim for Life Begins at Long Point

11am-2:00pm Public Greets Swimmers & Kayakers, Boatslip

Entertainment

12:00-2:00pm Mermaid Brunch (public welcome), Boatslip deck

1:00pm (or after last swimmer arrives)

Awards Ceremony

The Provincetown Schooner Race: September 1-7

Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta, ProvincetownSchoonerRace.com, September 1-7

The Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta is an eight day educational and sailing event that honors our maritime history and the great natural resources of our region. We promote public awareness of the important role that Schooners and other historic vessels played in our economic and cultural history. The Regatta takes place each year starting on the first Saturday of Labor Day weekend and ending on the following weekend.

Click here to access schedule.

Mission

ProvincetownSchoonerRace.com

The Mission of the Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta is to celebrate the role of the Great Atlantic fishing bank schooner in Provincetown’s maritime history while providing educational opportunities for residents and visitors to experience these historic vessels both in port and at sea. Additionally, we educate the public about the schooner races held off the New England coast from 1886 to 1938, and commemorate Provincetown’s 1907 Lipton Cup victory. The Regatta shares the story of Provincetown’s place in the traditional fishing industry as well as educates the younger generations about the days of Cape Cod’s past, when commerce and transportation truly ‘ran with the wind’. We work in tandem with cultural and research institutions in Provincetown and Cape Cod to enhance and reinforce the links between our local maritime history, fishing schooners, sailing, the great resources of our region, our culture and our economy.

History

ProvincetownSchoonerRace.com

Located at the outermost tip of Cape Cod and well-noted for being the first landing place of the Pilgrims in 1620, Provincetown was the first great fishing port on the eastern seaboard dating back to the time of the Norsemen. Many of the leading fishing vessels that plied the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans throughout America’s early maritime history called Provincetown home. Her skippers were well known for their skill and seamanship. At the height of the commercial fishing in the 19th century, Provincetown harbored as many as 100, 90-ton Schooners and 700 vessels. The port of Provincetown was also responsible for three times the catch of any other fishing port in New England.

The first Great Provincetown Schooner Race was held in 2002. Provincetown resident Captain John Bennett had been racing his Schooner Hindu in the Gloucester Schooner Festival and was inspired to organize a schooner gathering in his homeport. Although Captain Bennett did not live to see his dream come to fruition, supported by the Provincetown community, the committee that he had formed hosted the inaugural regatta that September in his honor. All who participated in this effort were inspired by Captain Bennett’s passion for sailing, his love of historic Schooners and his philosophy that good fellowship and good times are an important part of everyone’s life.

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The Taste of Provincetown

Taste of Provincetown - August 25, 2012

Date: Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 6:00pm

Location: Provincetown Town Hall 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA, 02657

The Taste of Provincetown features hors d’oeuvres, les amuse-bouches, and fine wines and cocktails contributed by 20 of Cape Cod’s most highly rated restaurants and celebrity chefs. Sweet Cheeks chef-owner Tiffani Faison will headline the event by refereeing a cooking challenge by three Provincetown chefs. The event also includes a silent auction. All proceeds from this evening will support Mass Equality’s work.

Click here to purchase tickets or sponsorships. 

Taste of Provincetown 2011
MassEquality.org
Taste of Provincetown on Facebook

Notes from Land's End: August 13

Carnival!

By Laura Shabott

Provincetown Business Guild
ptown.org
Ptown: A Space Odyssey
Carnival 2012

Provincetown.com  

Mardi Gras meets the Beach when Carnival Week comes to Provincetown. Parties, cruises and dance extravaganzas prepare us for Thursday’s parade beginning at 3:00 p.m. at the East End’s Harbor Hotel and ending in the West End at the Provincetown Inn. Thousands of people collecting beads will line the street to see scantily-clothed dancers and musicians on wildly decorated floats winding down Commercial Street.

This year’s theme, “Ptown: A Space Odyssey”, will have its share of Spocks and Barbarellas starting Sunday, August 12th to Friday, August 17th. For certain, the costumes will be out of this world. Sponsored by the Provincetown Business Guild, a Vulcan VIP Pass ($99.00) gives stellar access to ten events including Tuesday’s Intergalactic Boat Cruise (8/14) with Bay State Cruises and Ptown Parties. Be ready to board at 5:30P.M. at MacMillan Pier for an out of sight evening. ($25.00 a person or with VIP Pass)

Go to Carnival Headquarters daily from 11:00A.M. to 5:00P.M. at the Firehouse next to Town Hall at 256 Commercial Street for beads, t-shirts, posters and souvenirs like a Green Alien Water Bottle for $5.00. Passes and event tickets are also available.

Provincetown.com

The “only-in-Provincetown” iconic Drag Bingo happens Wednesday, August 15th, on the lawn of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House at 236 Commercial Street. Put on a dress or a tux and moustache, pop $24.00 and try your luck! It certainly will be unforgettable.

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Notes from Land's End: August 7

Provincetown Outdoor Adventures 

By Laura Shabott 
Provincetown.com 

Stand-up paddlers
Provincetown.com

Provincetown is surrounded by eleven square miles of National Seashore, has a deep natural harbor and is 55 nautical miles from Boston. When it comes to the great outdoors, there are adventures at land's end for anyone’s tastes or pocketbook.

The Paddleboard, a hybrid of a surfboard and canoe, is a super hit at Venture Athletics in Whaler's Wharf (237 Commercial Street). At only $30.00 for four hours, this new water sport is affordable, fun and great exercise. Call 508-487-9442 for more information about one- and two-person kayaks, full moon harbor excursions and eco-tours in cooperation with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

Every summer, the S/V Kalmar Nyckel docks at MacMillan Pier to bring passengers aboard for sunset and educational cruises. The original ship, a 1625 Dutch 200-ton Pinnace, brought settlers to Delaware from Sweden in the mid 1600s; its historic importance rivals that of the Mayflower. A cruise on the modern version, built in the 1990s, costs $60.00 for adults and $40.00 for folks seventeen and under. The telephone number is cleverly 302-429-SHIP.

Art's Dune Tours - Sunset tour with clambake
Courtesy of Radu Luca

I love taking Art’s Dune Tours rain or shine. Compass grass and rose hips grow in the shifting sands. A guide deftly drives up and down paths while telling stories that make you feel as if you are in on a great secret.

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REAL Family Values:Equality Activist Zach Wahls Comes to Provincetown

By Stephen Desroches

Provincetown Magazine 

Zach Wahls
Provincetown Magazine

The United States has certainly changed since the children’s book Heather Has Two Mommies appeared in 1989, causing controversy. Marriage equality exists in six states and the District of Columbia, with the real possibility that Maine, Washington, and Maryland will join that list by the end of the year. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed and the Supreme Court will soon decide the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. And Barack Obama became the first president to publicly express his support for marriage rights for same-sex couples. 

The LGBT movement has certainly taken giants leaps forward in the past several years. But that movement isn’t driven by those within the walls of the Capital, the Supreme Court, or the White House. It gets its energy from people like Zach Wahls, who rocketed to fame when a video of him addressing the Iowa House Judiciary Committee in favor of marriage equality and in defense of his family went viral on YouTube with almost 17 million hits as of July 19.  That exposure led him to appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Chelsea Lately,  as well as a new book, My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family.

“Roller coaster is a phrase I’ve been using a lot lately,” says Wahls, who lives in Iowa City with his two mothers and sister. “It’s been kind of scary. Kind of wild.”

Wahls was a 19-year-old student at the University of Iowa when he spoke before the House Judiciary Committee, who was preparing to vote on an initiative with the ultimate goal of amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, effectively overturning the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that made it legal in 2009. While the Republican-controlled Iowa House of Representatives ultimately voted to pass the anti-gay resolution, the Democrats in the state senate blocked it. But Wahls came out of the issue with rock-star appeal and a platform to advocate for equality for gays and lesbians. 

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Notes from Land's End: July 24

Provincetown Raises Its Artistic Bar with PAAM’s Motherwell and Long Point Exhibits

By Laura Shabott

 

Robert Motherwell Exhibit at PAAM
photo by Chuck Anzalone

The international art world convened on Commercial Street for a landmark Cape Cod exhibit: “Robert Motherwell: Beside the Sea” Friday, July 22nd through Saturday, September 30th at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Curators Lise Motherwell, the artist’s daughter, and multiple NEA Recipient Dan Ranalli (PAAM 2010) designed a monumental show featuring twenty paintings and three collages all created in Provincetown from 1962 (Beside the Sea Series) to 1990 (Blue Guitar).


Other works by Motherwell were in the adjoining “Long Point: An Artist’s Place” exhibit. A cooperative formed in 1977 when Provincetown had only five commercial galleries, the combined works of Varujan Boghosian (1926-), Robert Beauchamp (1923-1995), Paul Bowen (1951-), Fritz Bultman (1919-1985), Carmen Cicero (1926-), Gilbert Franklin (1919-2004), Sideo Fromboluti (1920-), Ed Giobbi (1926-), Dimitri Hadzi (1921-2006), Budd Hopkins (1931-), Rick Klauber (1951-), Leo Manso (1914-1993), Michael Mazur (1935-2009), Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), Renate Ponsold (1935-), Paul Resika (1928-), Judith Rothschild (1921-1993), Sidney Simon (1917-1997), Nora Speyer (1923-), and Tony Vevers (1926-2008) when viewed side by side are just astonishing.


This presentation of both Motherwell and Long Point at PAAM is a visual feast; a testament to the masters that call Provincetown their muse; a message to the international art world that the oldest continuing arts colony is a cultural destination with gravitas.
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