KG around the cape summer 2021 - Flipbook - Page 88
A ROUND CA PE COD
Arts
Home to the venerable Provincetown Players, the avant-garde theater first established in 1915,
Provincetown is famous for its wealth of artistic expression. The Provincetown Art Association and
Museum (PAAM) is a nationally recognized, year-round cultural institution that has been presenting
exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and events since 1914. The Provincetown Playhouse continues
to be the home of many independently produced plays, and the Fine Arts Work Center offers
unique residency programs to emerging visual artists and writers. Twenty Summers is a festival
of concerts, conversations, artist residencies, and special events that takes place annually from
mid-May to mid-June in the historic Hawthorne Barn. The annual Provincetown Film Festival, run by
the Provincetown Film Society, celebrates the best in independent film. There are dozens of highly
regarded fine art galleries throughout town, as well as plenty of live music venues and cabarets.
Culture
Each June, local fishing boats take part in the Blessing of the Fleet, part of the four-day
Provincetown Portuguese Festival, which pays tribute to Portuguese food and culture. Later in
the summer, Commercial Street explodes with color and activity during Provincetown Carnival,
a weeklong celebration of LGBTQ+ life. In the center of town sits the 252-foot tall Pilgrim
Monument, opened in 1910 to honor the first landing in Provincetown. At the base of the tower is
the Provincetown Museum, which highlights the arrival of the Mayflower pilgrims, the town’s rich
maritime history, the early days of modern American theater in Provincetown, and the building of
the monument. The community radio station in Provincetown is WOMR (OuterMost Radio), which
plays local, eclectic, entertaining, informative, and educational programming.
Education
Although there are fewer than 200 school-aged children living year-round in Provincetown, the two
schools that make up the Provincetown International Baccalaureate Schools are situated within
a rich cultural, scientific, and technological environment. Pre-kindergarten through grade eight
students are provided a high academic standard of education at the schools’ facility on Winslow
Street. High school students can attend Nauset Regional High School in Eastham, Cape Cod
Technical High School in Harwich, or private schools elsewhere on the Cape.
Geography
Located on the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown is surrounded by water in every direction
except for its narrow land border with Truro. The town itself is 17.5 square miles with more than
20 miles of coastal shoreline. Nearly two-thirds of Provincetown’s land is owned by the National
Park Service, which maintains and operates the National Seashore’s Herring Cove and Race Point
beaches. Wild, windy, and remote, the Province Lands dunes fill the landscape to the north of
downtown, while Cape Cod Bay enters the town’s fishhook-shaped harbor to the south.
Built with granite from Maine, Pilgrim Monument is the tallest all-granite
structure in the United States. (It is 116 steps to the top!) It was designed
by prominent American architect Willard Thomas Sears and was
patterned after the Torre Del Mangia in Siena, Italy.
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