PROVINCETOWN — For some, there were reasons other than football to spend a Sunday watching the Super Bowl.
Over 60 people braved a frosty night to watch America’s most-watched sports event together here, some venturing out in support of the Kansas City Chiefs or Philadelphia Eagles, others for bingo or Kendrick Lamar, and all for the distinct appeal of a “Big, Gay, Sassy Super Bowl Party,” which is what the Crown & Anchor offered at its Paramount Club on Feb. 9.
Ads for the party, designed by standup and sketch comedian Kristen Becker, promised a 188-inch screen and featured a montage of players’ chests, crotches, and derrières, played over NFL on Fox’s triumphant theme.
Becker, who emceed the event, said attendance reached an all-time peak this year, with 50 tickets sold ahead of time and an additional 15 or so walk-ins. The $30 ticket price benefited Summer of Sass, the program Becker launched in 2017 to support queer teenagers from less LGBTQ-friendly areas who come to live and work in Provincetown for the summer.
Becker started the watch-party fundraiser three years ago and says many regulars look forward to it. “Normally I’d be in the back myself, frying up chicken wings,” Becker said, but fortunately Mrs. A’s Comfort Kitchen was on hand. Guests sampled a buffet spread of crudités, deviled eggs, and corn dogs, while lounging on couches normally reserved for viewing RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Shortly after kickoff, Becker interrupted the proceedings to remind viewers why the fundraiser existed. “This year, we’re hosting eight young adults,” she said, recognizing an alum of Summer of Sass in the audience who would be a peer mentor in the program. It’s an effort she said was needed “now more than ever, in this political climate.”
Among the fundraiser’s draws was the opportunity to win prizes at a bingo game that Becker created, featuring card squares that corresponded to facts about the game, upcoming commercials, and the halftime show. She promised two free tickets to future shows at the Crown, including her own comedy routine, for the first team to fill its card. “Find a sports gay friend and a commercial gay friend and win,” she instructed.
The political climate underlying the fundraiser’s importance was not far from the minds of many who came to the Crown on Sunday.
“I used to root for the Chiefs, but now I’m too hurt,” Becker told the Independent, referring to the commencement speech kicker Harrison Butker made last spring at Benedictine College, a Catholic school in Kansas — a speech even the nuns at the school blasted, according to news reports at the time. In it, the Chiefs player told women to stick to homemaking, said the news media is degenerate, and criticized Pride celebrations.
Matt Thibault, who lives in Provincetown, said he kept six kilts in rotation for Sunday night outings and that night had chosen one with green tartan — in a salute to the Eagles.
“I’m only supporting them because Trump supports the Chiefs,” he said.
Though no poll data on the room’s favored team were available, each Eagles touchdown was met with louder and louder applause. The crowd greeted an ad for a T-Mobile partnership with Starlink — a satellite company owned by Elon Musk — with a resounding boo.
Matt Berry, who has assisted Becker with the fundraiser since its first iteration, said he grew up in Kansas City. He admitted he was a somewhat bashful Chiefs supporter. “I know everyone’s mad at them now,” he said from under a KC cap.
One of Berry’s responsibilities was producing the satirical “Super Bowl commercial” sketches and PSAs that the hosts screened to complement the event’s halftime show. Starting in December, the hosts, with a group of friends and entertainers, pitched sketches with hyperlocal humor and filmed the sketches in Provincetown. “We scrap a lot of ideas,” Berry said.
Becker and Berry aired their “commercials” competition before Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show got underway. Of the four entries, they judged a sketch advertising a certain dock in Provincetown to have received the most applause. As a bonus, Becker screened a final homemade PSA that opened with the intertitle “Every winter night in Provincetown, a drag queen is ignored.”
By 7:45, Becker began running out of awards to give to bingo winners. A voice from the audience suggested next year’s Super Bowl tickets. “Nobody here can afford Super Bowl tickets. If they could, they’re in Puerto Vallarta right now!” The organizers settled on free tickets to additional events over Valentine’s Day weekend.
As the event wound down, and the heavy, snowy silence that lingered after Saturday’s winter storm awaited outside, several remarked that they had come just to see who was left in town. Embraces among old friends punctuated the Eagles’ final touchdowns.
By the end of the night, the party had raised $3,520 for Summer of Sass, exceeding its $3,000 goal.
