PROVINCETOWN — The Summer of Sass began in 2017 to help young queer people from less-accepting parts of the country — such as Shreveport, La., where founder Kristen Becker grew up — come to Provincetown to work, live, and experience an environment that celebrates LGBTQ people.

The program had three or four participants per year in its first few seasons, partly because Becker had a hard time finding affordable rentals. A fundraiser at the Mary Heaton Vorse house in 2022 led to an anonymous $3.7-million donation that allowed the program to buy the Stowaway Guest House at 210 Bradford St. and convert it into a permanent home for the nonprofit.

Before it became the Stowaway, the 1870s house had been owned by transgender activist Rikki Swin, according to David W. Dunlap’s Building Provincetown. There are 11 people living there this summer — nine program participants plus resident assistant Jazz Milliner and house manager Paolo Salvador, both of whom are 28.

“There’s a wide range of experience and identity in the house,” says Becker. “It’s creating space that’s affordable for this generation. We want to make Provincetown accessible to the people it should be accessible to.”

The “Sassers,” as they’re known, find work in town and pay rent. They arrive at the end of May; some stay until mid-August, when college classes resume, while others remain until late September.

Brianna Heard, 18, who also goes by Bernard, wakes up at 8 a.m. every morning in Provincetown no matter when they go to sleep. At home in Memphis, Tenn., Heard liked to sleep in, sometimes until late afternoon. But whether it’s the cooler air or the smell of the sea, something here stirs their body to be up and about.

Heard worked at Connie’s Bakery until recently and is looking for other work now. In the mornings they munch on cucumbers from the farmers market and then check in on other Sassers.

“We chill out in the hot tub, we go to the beach, we run errands,” says Heard. “We’ll window shop or thrift shop or go to the grocery store or pick up somebody from work.

“Here, I get to be a little louder, a little weirder — and my favorite part is that I get to be outside at night,” Heard adds.

Heard has been cooking for friends, including hot water cornbread, a recipe from their grandmother. “I called my grandma about how to make it, and she gave me a lecture about God and a lecture about oil,” Heard says. “She always said, ‘You’ll never get a husband if you don’t know how to cook.’ Little does she know that I’m trying to get a wife.”

Kirby Bernhardt, 20, has worked at the Human Rights Campaign store for most of the summer. He also recently took a job across the street at Toys of Eros, which means he’s at work by 10 a.m. most days.

Mornings are simple for Bernhardt. “I pretty much eat peanut butter and then go to work,” he says.

On his day off he likes to goof off and comb the beaches of the East End, collecting shells, rocks, and sea glass. “It’s nice to be able to leave the house and still feel safe,” he says.

His hometown of Winlock, Wash. is two hours south of Seattle and fairly conservative, Bernhardt says. Before his mom found out about Summer of Sass through an online forum for mothers of LGBTQ kids, Bernhardt had never heard of Provincetown.

“This is the first place where I’ve seen old gay people,” Bernhardt says. “Where I’m from, everybody who is openly queer is in their mid-20s or younger.”

Bernhardt was taking pre-med courses at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., where he lived with other transgender roommates, but now he’s considering going into animation or opening a ceramics studio. Comic artist Phil Jimenez and Pixar animator Colin Bohrer spoke at the Sass house this summer.

“Seeing that there are so many art galleries here and so many professional artists who can make a living, it gives me hope that I can do that one day as well,” says Bernhardt. “It feels a lot more in reach.”

Robbie Piper, 20, has also lived with queer people before: after graduating from high school in Seattle, he went to New York City for a summer acting program before enrolling at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

He found Summer of Sass by searching the internet for “gayest towns in America.” He works four days a week at East End Books, stocking, organizing, and fielding requests from customers.

Piper says the summer has been fun, including visits to the pool and the beach. But being in Provincetown can be overwhelming in other ways, he says — including unwanted attention from some older men in town.

“I’m not used to being observed so much,” Piper says.

Becker says that helping prepare students for a sometimes-hostile world is part of the program. “It’s about teaching somebody to survive in a world that is increasingly not made for them and often working against them,” she says.

Mentorship from older queer people is also important. Milliner wears multiple hats: chauffeur, confidante, and big sibling. Weekly house activities include beach bonfires, drag brunches, and building garden beds to plant vegetables.

“We can have any conversation, and we can have it until that person is done,” says Milliner. “I very much want to foster space for everyone to be themselves to the fullest.”

Finding more complete self-expression, working through shame, and coming into deeper connections with community is no easy feat. The program tries to meet queer youth where they are and help them get where they’re going, Becker says.

“This life stuff is so hard, and it’s just getting more complicated,” says Piper. “You find the formula, and it opens up a new periodic table. You finish a book, and it gives you a code to order 15 other volumes.”