PROVINCETOWN — The Fourth of July parade unfolded with the usual pomp and circumstance last Thursday. The town crier and a drum corps led the procession down Commercial Street. Weary-looking kids, perched on flatbed trailers, tossed candy to cheery crowds. The wafting smell of grilled meat mixed with July’s thick, damp air. It was a quintessential Independence Day scene, an ideal backdrop for questions and reflection about this moment in American history.
There were more visitors in town — an estimated 32,000 — for the country’s 248th birthday than there have been since 2019, according to Town Manager Alex Morse.
The first debate between the presumptive presidential candidates President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was clearly still on people’s minds.
Longtime friends Peter Saunders and Mike Buckley were camped out on beach chairs on a sliver of sidewalk by Rosie’s Cantina, waiting for the parade to get going. For Saunders, history offers hope. “I draw a lot of satisfaction from the residual strength of the American people over our 250-year existence,” said Saunders, visiting from Seattle.
Buckley, who lives in Blackstone, was less optimistic. “I think there is a lot of common ground,” he said, “but I don’t see a lot of effort to find common ground.” The American flag adorned his T-shirt.
Saunders admitted that he also feels uneasy about political polarization, and immigration is on his mind. “There’s a large segment of people in the country today who come from immigrants yet aren’t welcoming of immigrants and aren’t welcoming of people who have different lifestyles than their own,” he said. “I wish it were better, and I have faith that in the future it will be better.”
Süleyman Şişkin, an immigrant from Turkey studying industrial engineering at Northeastern, was also thinking about immigration. He has an F-1 visa, which is for full-time students. “I’m worried that if Trump comes back, they’ll send us home,” Şişkin said, taking a sip of his iced coffee. He hopes to start an engineering business in Boston after he earns his degree.
John Forsythe, who took a day trip to Provincetown from Dennis to watch the parade with friends, was decked out in his Blue Lives Matter cap and heart-shaped American-flag sunglasses. Forsythe thinks the country should close the U.S.-Mexico border to immigrants. “We need a new president, someone who knows what he’s doing and can actually speak on TV,” he said. He thinks Joe Biden doesn’t represent most Americans. “Everybody needs to have a voice and a choice,” he said. “Right now, we have no choices because we have a president who doesn’t do anything for our country.”
Dennis and Suzy Koshier made the trip from South Yarmouth to celebrate the Fourth in Provincetown. The couple blame Biden for the housing crisis. “It’s impossible to get a house now with interest rates at 7 percent,” Dennis said. “The border is a big issue, too. All these people coming in, and the country can’t even take care of our own people.”
Both Koshiers say they don’t like some of the things Trump says, “but he knows how to run a country,” said Dennis.
Provincetown resident Jamie Malzman said she is anxious about President Biden’s reelection prospects but hopeful about other possibilities. “With a glimmer of hope that Kamala will run and that Democrats will come out with a strong ticket,” Malzman said. She said the stakes in this election couldn’t be higher because of what she sees as a politicized, right-wing Supreme Court.
Tim Baker and Steve Pompeo, both Provincetown residents for 40 years, sat on a bench in front of Spiritus Pizza after spending the morning marching in the parade. The pair, dressed in matching blonde Mohawk wigs and sequined jumpsuits as an homage to American rock and roll, were wishing for new appointees to the Supreme Court.
“I was concerned about President Biden’s performance, but I’m hopeful we can get someone in his place who can beat Trump,” said Baker. “And I think that might be Kamala Harris.”
“I’m hopeful enough people will come to their senses,” added Pompeo. “We’re becoming less friendly as a country. People are too quick to judge, too quick to interfere, and too quick to impose their beliefs on others.”
Sitting on the ledge of a planter at Commercial and Howland streets, Marie Hartley and Laura Gill said they fear a rollback of same-sex marriage rights. “I keep asking myself, ‘It’s not really going to happen, right?’ I’m in a bit of denial,” Hartley said.
The couple live in Brewster but own a condo in town and have been together for 30 years. They were among the first to marry in 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage.
“The one thing that gives me hope is that places like Provincetown exist,” Gill said. Hartley and Gill haven’t given up on America just yet.
“We love our country,” said Gill. “We just want it to live up to its promise.”
