Photos by Marcia Geier taken at this year’s Carnival parade, with words collected online and in conversations afterwards by Susannah Elisabeth Fulcher.
PROVINCETOWN — “Joy in the street!” The words of longtime Provincetown visitor and now year-round renter Barbara Dyett perfectly captured the mood of this year’s Enchanted Forest Carnival Parade. The costumes were magical and the sense of freedom to become another fantastical creature for a day was palpable throughout town. “Everybody needed some joy,” Dyett added.
Lea DeLaria was the Grand Marshall this year, shepherding along a parade of magical creatures, exuberantly living out this year’s Enchanted Forest theme.
“It was amazing,” agreed Eddy Lupien Jr., who manages the Carpe Diem Guesthouse and is a fixture on the Provincetown Business Guild’s first float as Drag Queen Drunkerella. “The energy was great even though the weather was hot!”
Even Provincetown resident Lee Reis, who was not always a lover of the event, was convinced this year: “During the second half of summer patience starts to wear thin, traffic is awful, there’s a crowd everywhere. I’ve learned to embrace the love and fun and shared amazement of our fabulous little town.”
Elves like this one contributed to the mood for people like Reis, who added that the parade offered a great excuse to be a tourist for a day.
There were moments of irony. And of fine art.
People flocked into town from throughout the Cape and beyond, lining Commercial Street from early in the morning to watch the many floats and costumed participants parade by. One after another, they charmed onlookers. Sometimes with the happy simplicity of bubbles and tutus and fairy wings and flowers. Other times with deep woods special effects.
“To celebrate diversity and embrace acceptance was clearly the theme, as evidenced by the smiles and laughter throughout the afternoon,” said Eastham resident Jan Dowsett Potter. She was not alone in offering “kudos to the police and DPW for keeping us all safe and for the cleanup afterward. “That not a single negative incident occurred speaks volumes about this wonderful Cape Cod community.”
Photographer Marcia Geier lives in Wellfleet but makes her photographs in many places, including cities and zoos. Susannah Elisabeth Fulcher lives with her family in Wellfleet, where she is working on a novel and a memoir about her experience with cancer treatment. Both contribute regularly to the Independent.
