'A place of tolerance': Provincetown's 3-day LGBTQ+ Pride celebration has parties, flags, comedy, dance, more

Provincetown has long been known as a welcoming LGBTQ+ vacation spot and place to live, so the Provincetown Business Guild got a lot of questions five years ago when it started an official Provincetown Pride weekend. Chief among them, according to Stephan Hengst, guild executive director, was “Why does Provincetown need a Pride?”

Now the guild describes the event scheduled for June 3-5 as both the unofficial start to the summer season, and, Hengst said in announcing the schedule, “one of the more inclusive and diverse events" on the town calendar.

The guild has scheduled a variety of new events this year, some of which celebrate Provincetown’s "queer history" and some designed to “honor and uplift the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community” during the nationwide Pride month of June. Traditional favorites will also be back, including drag brunch, queer drag bingo, and the Pride tea dance at the Boatslip resort.

“Provincetown has been a haven for the queer community and a place of tolerance, diversity, and creativity for over a century,” Hengst said in the announcement. “We look forward to introducing this special place to even more of the LGBTQ+ community and our supportive allies.”

Revelers can learn details of that history through a new trolley tour with that theme, led by Hutchinson. Plus there will be a “soft opening” for Pride of a new Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum exhibit titled “An Anecdotal LGBTQ+ History of the Last Century of Provincetown” that is due to be finished later this month and have a July grand opening.

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There’s also more to focus on: Pride weekend overlaps with “Womxn of Color Weekend,” a June 2-5 celebration of Pride and diversity for LGBTQ+ women of color that involves its own parties, yoga, workshops, vendors and more. More information at wocw.org/registration.

The guild and Bay State Cruise Company will host a special Pride cruise at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3, departing from Boston’s World Trade Center to Provincetown, with hosts Daniel Gómez Llata, the Provincetown Town Crier, and Hutchinson. Discount ferry tickets are also expected to be available all weekend for visitors under age 25.

Events for Provincetown Pride

Besides a variety of parties and shows around town, here are some Pride event highlights (full schedule at https://ptown.org/calendars/pride/):

► A panel discussion on "Right on Q: Identity & Understanding Around the Word 'Queer'" will be a new pre-Pride event taking place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2 at the Fine Arts Work Center, 24 Pearl St. Presented by the guild and Provincetown Brewing Co. as part of the brewery's Taproom Talks series, the discussion will "explore the use of the word queer, its history, and its meaning to different facets within the LGBTQ+ community." Participants will include state Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro), Boston poet laureate Porsha Olayiwola and The Commons executive director Jill Stauffer, with Adam Golub from the Generations Project as moderator.

► The “In Their Own Voices” — Community Pride Flag Installation will be on display on the east lawn of Provincetown Town Hall (260 Commercial St.). In partnership with the Gilbert Baker Foundation, honoring the man who in 1978 created the original Rainbow Flag signaling Pride, the exhibit will feature a portion of his original flag, the Progress Pride flag, the Trans flag, and 10 more flags representing different identities within the LGBTQ+ community. This will be the first time, guild officials say, that the “In Their Own Voices” flag exhibit will be viewed outside the Castro District of San Francisco and the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

► A rainbow crosswalk will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Friday at Lopes Square.

► On Friday, June 3, the guild will host a “Pride Proclamation” at 3 p.m. in front of the Community Pride Flag Installation. Jay Blotcher, an LGBTQ+ journalist, activist and volunteer publicist for the founding chapters of ACT UP & Queer Nation, will speak to the many new incarnations of Pride flags. Golub, who is also curator of the new Provincetown Museum exhibit, is also due to speak.

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► At 9 p.m. Friday will be "Provincetown Follies," a cabaret style show that's a benefit for the guild and that officials there describe as a mix of Provincetown, Las Vegas, Folies Bergère and Moulin Rouge to create “The Gayest Show in Town!” Performers will include Boy Radio, Jon Richardson, Delta Miles, Todd Alsup, Mackenzie, Peter Donnelly, Elle Emenopé, The Goddesses of Illusions, Abby Cummings and Qya Cristál.

► At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, there will be a Pride Rally at Town Hall, followed by a “sashay” to the 4 p.m. tea dance at the Boatslip Resort & Beach Club, 161 Commercial St.

► New this year will be a "Queer Comedy Showcase" at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 4, at Town Hall, featuring Franqi French, (reigning champion of “Stand Up NBC”), Jaye McBride (the first openly transgender comedian to perform at Madison Square Garden), Sam Morrison (New York Comedy Festival), Provincetown’s Kristen Becker (host of Fruit Basket Comedy), and Anddy Egan-Thorpe (creator of Fruit Basket Comedy).

► For health and wellness, at 7:30 a.m. each day, Outermost Yoga will present “Sunrise Slow Flow Yoga” at the Boatslip; and on Sunday, will be the first "Feet Over Front Street" Pride 5K Run/Walk, starting at 8:30 a.m. at Harbor Hotel, 698 Commercial St., in partnership with Provincetown Runners.

Many Pride events are free. Details on the Pride schedule and paid tickets or pre-registration for events that require them are available at ptown.org/pride.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT. 

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Provincetown Pride: 3 days of LGBTQ+ parties, flags, comedy, history