PROVINCETOWN – The Carnival Parade hit Commercial Street at 3pm on Thursday with a full array of floats, costumes and onlookers. Through the lively sound of police escort ATVs, DJs and booming speakers, bejeweled revelers covered in body paint and decked out in wigs, feathers and masks danced their way through.
The parade was part of Provincetown Carnival Week, an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ life. It ran this year from August 13-20, offering 17 events during the week plus the annual carnival parade. The parade was held for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eager onlookers lined both sides of Commercial Street standing and sitting on both rock barricades and lawn chairs Thursday afternoon as they waited for the parade to begin. Bicycle carts pedaled through streets filled with parade participants, while bubble cars blasted down the street and children ran around waving Pride flags.
Transgender artist Justin Vivian Bond is Carnival Grand Marsha(l)
Along with the traditional line of floats, hundreds of spectators and many volunteers from near and far, the parade boasted a special grand marshal – or “Grand Marsha”, as transgender activist Justin Vivian Bond asked to be called.
Each carnival parade, organizers choose a grand marshal who represents the energy of the event, said Stephan Hengst, executive director of the Provincetown Business Association. The Guild organizes the carnival every year, and chose Bond to play the great role of Marsha (l) this year.
“In addition to celebrating the carnival parade and grand marshal history, they [Bond] we are excited to also continue the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson, who was a black transgender writer who is credited with starting the Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969,” said Hengst.
“Not only are we looking forward to having someone like Justin Vivian Bond as the great Marsha, but we’re also reaching back into our quirky past and celebrating icons that are so important that we really think everyone should to continue to be aware, to know. their heritage and to really understand our queer history,” he said.
“I like to think that it’s hard to move forward with a movement without being able to really understand and appreciate our past.”
While this was Hengst’s first carnival experience, there were plenty of veteran carnival attendees in attendance for Thursday’s festivities. Andy Fagan and Joe Hawk, who are from Waverly, New York, have been coming to the Carnival for about 10 years and dressed up as “Mother Nature” on Thursday.
Decade of anniversaries with a parade
However, this year was a special one because it marked their 10th wedding anniversary. While they’ve been together for nearly 20 years, they got married in Provincetown and try to visit during Carnival every year.
“Everything. It means everything to us,” Fagan said of being able to visit Provincetown and be a part of the festivities over the years. “And just being free, the freedom to be yourself and for everybody to be themselves, we we appreciate so much.”
Hawk said Provincetown, especially during carnivals, is somewhere he and Fagan can feel the support of the community.
“It’s fun, it’s good food and relaxation, it’s fun, it’s everything,” he said. “And it’s one of the only places on the planet where we could hold hands if we wanted to.”
Two sasquatches wearing rainbow shorts also walk in the parade, promoting a queer music event, the Washashore Festival, slated for Provincetown in early October. The Sasquatches had different levels of carnival experience – one of them, Erik Borg, has been coming for about 10 years, while the other, Lew Gallo, was experiencing his first carnival.
“I’ve experienced it from all angles,” laughed Borg. He lives in Provincetown and is one of the partners in Provincetown Brewing Co. in Bradford Street. He and Gallo walked a banner in the parade and handed out flyers before it started.
80 volunteers come from near and far
With so many floats, dancers and flags, it was essential that the Business Guild had enough volunteers not only for the parade, but for all the events that took place during the week. And that was the job of Volunteer Carnival Coordinator Elyce Rivera, who has been coming to Provincetown for about 12 years.
It has become a family tradition for Rivera, as she started bringing her children when they were young and has continued ever since. She always felt a strong connection to the city and said over the past four or five years before the pandemic, she has volunteered more and more for the parade.
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This was her first year as coordinator, but Rivera spent 20 years with the New York City Police Department and is now the director of security for the Manhattan Jewish Community Center in her retirement.
“In my role, I get really excited when I see volunteers come back to me and tell me how much fun they had and how they just met a whole bunch of people,” she said in anticipation of the event.
“A lot of people, you know, believe it or not, are going to travel alone or be here for a week alone and not know a single person,” Rivera said. “And volunteering connects them with a whole bunch of people they would otherwise never have met, and we end up hanging out in the years to come.”
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The carnival attracted about 80 registered volunteers to help with the week’s 17 events and parade. Eight different Pride flags flew over the Pride Route, some of which include the lesbian flag, the transgender flag, the bisexual flag, the bear flag, the leather flag and the inclusive pride flag, Hengst said.
“Not only are we celebrating our community at large,” he said, “but we’re really celebrating the full spectrum of the queer community and bringing everyone together in Provincetown, a place we all know and we all love.
“That’s what Carnival is all about, bringing people together and having a great time.”
