Fantasia Festival

Fantasia Festival

By: © Nelson Taylor 2012

Whether you're straight, gay, bi-sexual or just your average people-watcher who likes a rip-roaring week-long party in the streets, the annual Fantasia Festival in August has your name on it. Provincetown, an old whaling community on the coast, has always attracted people with a passion for life. Tennessee Williams wrote The Glass Menagerie here in the early 40s. Modern artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko once downed an ocean's worth of cocktails in the local Inns and taverns. Still today, during the high summer season, it's not unusual to see famous writers like Norman Mailer or famous filmmakers like John Waters taking advantage of the gorgeous summer scene.

For the better part of the last quarter century, the Provincetown Business Guild has thrown Carnival to promote gay and lesbian tourism in the area. With over 14 week-long events, you could compare Carnival to a twisted Mardi Gras -- a similar street party, but one with more masculine make-up, hairy legs in high heels, gratuitous groping and men and women waving rainbow-colored flags.

Drag Bingo kicks off the event Wednesday night. And it's just what it sounds like. Over 350 decked-out divas descend upon the Unitarian Universalist Church to try their hand at winning some dough to blow at the Opening Ball, which occurs immediately afterward. Besides being a knock-down party, the Opening Ball is the night the queen and king of Carnival are chosen. Steve Melamed, who owns several local cabarets and is senior co-chair of the Carnival Committee, explains, "It's primarily attire based because there's time limitations and there's sometimes as many as 40-50 contestants, and we try to do it in two hours." Those vying for crowns also sing, dance and do whatever they must do to get noticed. "But for all practical purposes," Melamed says, "there's no talent to speak of involved. It's strictly costuming."

Costumes are usually designed with no cross-dressing code in mind, though each year does have a theme, such as "Games People Play," "Your Favorite Decade," or "Plays & Movies." "You can really take it as far as you want to take it," Melamed says. "The amount of creativity flowing through here during the week is amazing." One of Melamed's fondest memories is of Miss Bubbles, a cross-dresser who made an elegant gown out of bubble wrap. With the newly appointed King and Queen in the lead, Thursday's parade sees 30-40 floats pass through the streets. Some of the floats are extremely elaborate, some consist of one individual strutting his or her stuff down electric avenue. "Last year there was a Wheel of Fortune float," Melamed says. "They were using an actual person as the pointer on the wheel." Saucy, to say the least! Tickets are $5-$10 for individual events; $20 for a weeklong pass.

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