Photos and story by James Cerne
When the theme for Provincetown’s 47th annual Carnival — Summer Camp — was announced, a lot of people wondered what was supposed to be different this year. After all, Carnival has always been celebrated here in the summer. And it’s always been camp.
Since 1978, before Anna Wintour turned the Met Gala into a burlesque of queer sensibility, our homegrown bacchanal on the tip of the Cape has recreated a far-flung list of pop culture touchstones, from Greek mythology to comic books to the Land of Toys through a decidedly camp lens.
In a town that loves double entendres almost as much as it loves theme dressing, the opportunity to make camp out of camp was too good to resist. And so it was that at the parade on Aug. 21, the wholesome American tradition of camping (in the traditional sense) was opened up to the creative energy, chaos, and subversion of Provincetown’s Carnival.
When it comes to costumes, a successful Carnival theme offers inspiration to people with all levels of commitment to the bit, and by this measure, Summer Camp did not disappoint.
Variations of the classic Boy and Girl Scouts proliferated. There were representatives from Band Camp, Space Camp, “Troupe” Beverly Hills, and Camp David. A cohort of shirtless men turned heads in low-slung cargo shorts as the members of “Camp Abercrombie & Fitch.” There were flaming campfire costumes, and if you were in the mood for a snack, well, there were hot dogs, hamburgers, marshmallows, and s’mores.
The ghoulishly inclined found opportunities in the theme as well, with many revelers drawing inspiration from classic summer camp-themed horror flicks like Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp: more than one Jason Voorhees menaced the crowd in a hockey mask and shredded Army fatigues.
For the more ambitious, inspiration was found in the quotidian details of summer camp life. One gentleman came dressed as an outhouse, and in front of Tim’s Used Books, a beautiful green willow tree suspended a wooden swing from her outstretched arm.
My own vote for best dressed was the week’s headliner, drag icon and activist Pattie Gonia, co-founder of the Outdoorist Oath, a nonprofit dedicated to building outdoor community for BIPOC and queer people. She swanned down Commercial Street in a shimmering silver gown constructed from an actual tent. It was a simple but clever design that would not have been out of place on a Paris runway, and after the parade, the Provincetown Business Guild declared Pattie the winning “Walking Entry.” At a Carnival that asked us to consider the word “camp” from two different perspectives, Pattie Gonia straddled both with aplomb.
