Provincetown is many things to many people. A charming New England fishing village, with white clapboard homes, old church spires, sea-washed wharves jutting out into the deep blue harbor. The long, low foghorns of the Outer Cape’s three lighthouses offer the background music of the town.
But Provincetown is also a place of revelry and romance, theater and art, frolic and fun. It is a place like none other, where diversity is celebrated and individualism prized. Here, on the same beach where the Pilgrims first landed searching for freedom and opportunity, that same spirit still thrives. Provincetown has always danced to its own rhythm, and today its music is louder and prouder than ever before.

But don’t stop there. What makes Provincetown so special is that gay life isn’t confined to the bars. It’s everywhere — from the beaches to the town’s art gallery district to the waterfront shops, where drag queens mix with everyday tourists. More than one visitor has described Commercial Street as a movie set. See Cher motoring by on her scooter. Spot Barbara Streisand or Madonna — and wonder if they’re drag or the real thing (both have been known to slip into town unannounced.) Buy commitment rings at a local jewelry shop; pick up the latest gay books at the bookstore; catch all the latest independent films.