Laying claim to Halloween as a signature annual event in many towns has become fashionable to elevate the fall touring months. But in America’s first destination, Provincetown, MA, ghouls and goblins by the thousands venture to the end of Cape Cod each year for the grand daddy of them all, in a foggy and eerie village where it all began.

Perhaps making Halloween that special commemoration comes naturally for a town where dressing up and donning costumes is a part of everyday life in America’s oldest continuous art colony. Provincetown’s uniqueness shows as it makes events to remember by casting a bewitching spell across the better part of two weeks, spanning from October 25 all the way to November 3.

« In a town as eclectic and progressive as Ptown – with ample excuses for costuming, dancing, and revelry year-round – Halloween requires stepping things up a notch, » said Provincetown Director of Tourism Anthony Fuccillo. « Costumes here don’t come pre-packaged from a store, but rather require months’ worth of creativity, preparation, calculated effort and flare. »

As in most places on Halloween, you’ll find trick-or-treaters roaming the neighborhoods, but in Ptown, you’ll also find the gaudiest of goblins and glitziest of ghouls roaming Commercial Street, where one might catch an impromptu performance of Michael Jackson’s « Thriller » or see a parody on some latest news event. Ptown is Halloween on steroids.

A ten-day celebration of the pumpkin features high stepping on dance floors and roaming fog-laced back alleys or a spooky cemetery. Head to one of the town’s famed clubs to dance until you’re dead (or undead), or measure your costume’s merit against Halloween’s best in contests that in some cases award cash prizes for best group, sexiest & scariest costumes.

Perhaps you’re looking for a bit more drama on your fright night? Ride your broom over to a local Mystery Dinner Theater event, « Murder Most Post-War. » The event will chill you to the bone.

Those with any wits left can also enjoy one of Ptown’s most traditional Halloween events, « Helltown on Winthrop. » Take a stroll down Winthrop Street if you dare and experience ghosts and ghouls and twisted souls waiting for you behind every fence and corner. Beware and keep your eyes open and your senses about you…one false step, one quick shift of your gaze and you may be dragged down to the underworld in Ghosttown, a world famous haunted attraction. And don’t forget that Town Hall opens up to the Beaux Arts Ball on November 2nd, featuring Taylor Dayne and music to die for.

Finally, Ptown aficionados won’t want to forget Spooky Bear Weekend, running from Friday, Nov. 1 to Sun., Nov. 3, with nary a moment in between to catch your breath enough to scream. Friday features a meet & greet, Rocky Horrow Picture Show screening and ‘Saints & Sinner Party.’ Saturday starts civilized with Afternoon Tea followed by a special Spooky Tea Dance and then a costume contest that’s sure to be a roaring good time. Ursamen finish the weekend out in style on Sunday with a farewell brunch.

It’s easy to see why Ptown is the pinnacle of destinations to celebrate Halloween in style, while providing all the scares, laughs, screams and smiles anyone could possibly covet. In a town known for its every-day flare for the dramatic, the fun, the glamorous and the silly…a visit for ten days of Halloween celebration is almost the equivalent of a month’s visit any other time of year. So let down your hair, put on your witch’s hat and make plans to come see us in Ptown for the most fun, frightening and unforgettable Halloween you can imagine in a place about to celebrate 400 years of revelry.

By M.Sebastian Araujo

Late September has finally come.Autumn’s chill is evident on carhoods and windowpanes first thing in the morning.By noon most days the sun is ablaze with warmth and one often feels the urge to head to the beach,which is amazingly deserted. The few of us who remain during this transitional period,have found a peaceful haven amid the turbulence of the daily grind most others on this planet feel daily. What often amazes me most,when the shutters begin to close on this tiny town is just how glorious the gardens are,with the last flush of growth and color before WInter’s frigid finger comes to chill the petals off the rose.

Recently I meandered down Commercial Street to the Lush,Lovely and Languid East ENd of Town. Pausing at #508 (The Old Homestead) peeking over the crooked picket fence past the bowing GIANT sunflower my mind wandered down the well worn brick path to my dear friend Rosa’s teeny – tiny garden. Some garden for fun,some for pleasure,other for sustenance,ROsa does it for Love! Her artistic hands weave a seasonal hodgepodge of plants some flowering and others bearing fruit which all make the fabric of her garden a delightfully charming « cottage garden » Totally organic, totally homegrown and always full to bursting with Love! Like the Art she creates this gardenis a melange of found and made plant materials with the odd hand hewn bench made by her carpenter husband Paul,dotting here and there. Childrens old fashioned toys and a few old mardi gras beads in a bush or two seem to have been magically transformed with the wave of her hand and quite a bit of household compost proving that nothing every goes to waste around here.

Just around the cornet on Bradford Street is the astonishingly lavish and luxuriant swath of perpetual blooms of the magnificent « Uphill » terraced garden of photographer Ric Ide. The setting is picture perfect,and so like his work. An eye for detail and strong hands have shaped this steep hiltop space into a crazy quilt of color, texture,and sculptures placed with the assurance of an artistic mind. As one pause for a few moments one can truly begin to discern the subtlety of his choices and the placement of the original sculptures also made by him.

You can find more about RIc’s work here; http://www.lit-studios.com/

The last stop on this Autumn garden hop is the place where many of Ptown’s gardeners get theirlanting materials,encouragement and inspiration. « Garden Renovations » Located just across Route 6 in the « burbs » of Ptown you will find just about everything you will need to make your garden grow whether your name is Mary, Mary or not! Jennifer and the rest of the gardeners are really knowledgeable about the place we all live and its quirky cimate and the products sold here are always hardy enough to make it work on the sandy spit of land. Not too keen on getitng your hands all that dirty,well they can take care of it for you.Even if your little patch of earth and all the window boxes are filled to the brim a stroll through this heavenly place will make your day seem like a trip to paradise.

You can find out more about them here; http://gardenrenovationsnursery.com/

My life has taken me many places and shown many things.No matter where it is that I may roam…Paris,Azerbaijan or Rome ,when I need peaceful beauty to surround me there is no place like my own little garden.The loveliest thing about Provincetown is that weather your here for a week or a lifetime it some how always feel a like Home!

The town known as America’s first destination will soon add another dimension to its reputation with the launch of the first annual Provincetown Food & Wine Festival.

Held from October 4-6, 2013, the festival will benefit the Provincetown Soup Kitchen and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

« Provincetown has so many great dining options. It will be an honor to see some of the best of what we have to offer on display at this inaugural Food and Wine Festival, » said Tony Fuccillo, Director of Tourism. « Ptown is a place where local, organic and authentic aren’t just culinary bywords – they’re a way of life. This town has been an inspiration and a haven for some of America’s greatest creative minds, and our chefs, purveyors and other artisan producers are working in that same heritage. »

The festival will shed light on the growing number of Provincetown chefs and craft vintners, brewers and distillers creating fare as innovative and diverse as the town itself.

The array of festival activities begins with the opening reception on Friday, October 4 from 5pm to 7pm. This VIP event represents the first course of the weekend and will offer gourmet appetizers and mouth-watering desserts paired with fine wines and spirits.

Celebrity guest, culinary writer, comedian and TV and film personality Cheril Vendetti, will be on hand to entertain with her « Chaos In the Kitchen » performance. A silent auction will also be held benefitting two local charities, giving guests the opportunity to bid on a collection of one-of-a-kind items. Cost is $75.

In addition to the weekend’s signature events, there will be food and wine pairings available throughout town on Friday night. These include a Seafood Symphony, Vegetarian Enchantment, an Italian inspired pairing, or a Rosé inspired dinner. Saturday continues the multitude of tastings. There will be Women in Wine Making, Mixology 101 and chocolate demonstrations. Boston’s own Bully Boy distillers will be one of the local producers displaying their alchemy for fine spirits.

The weekend’s showcase event takes place on Saturday from 1:30pm to. The Grand Tasting will feature dishes prepared by a bevy of Ptown’s best local chefs, while select wineries, brewers and distillers will match the food with their very finest offerings. Of all the events offered during the weekend, this is the one not to miss. Cost is $125.

Saturday will offer even more food and wine pairings to choose from around town, including Shell Fish with a Local Touch, Around the World in Coffee with a Kick, a Murder Mystery Dinner Show, or a Parlor Night. This is an opportunity for festivalgoers to diversify their agendas by savoring sips and bites from local restaurants they may have missed on a Friday.

Sunday at 10am is the festival’s closing event, the Champagne and Caviar Brunch. Participants will leave feeling like royalty! Cost is $69.

The diversity of events at this first annual Provincetown Food & Wine Festival will prove to visitors just how much the town has to offer in addition to the beaches, history, galleries, shops and stunning landscapes that have made Ptown America’s First Destination. Come dine with us!

OPENING ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2013, 7 TO 9 P.M.,
AT THE ALDEN GALLERY 423 COMMERCIAL ST. IN PROVINCETOWN

The Alden Gallery will present “Alice Denison and Mark Palmer,” a two-person show, on Friday, September 6, 2013, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the gallery’s exhibit space at 423 Commercial St. Drinks and refreshments will be served at the reception, and the artists will be attending; the gallery is open to the public and free. The exhibit will be on view through September 26.

The first half of this show, “Alice Denison: 360,” takes the Boston-based Denison’s show last year at the Alden Gallery, “Vessel,” to a new dimension. In that exhibit, Denison distilled her idiosyncratic mix of old-master technique and modernist aesthetics and came up with a hybrid form of still-life, combining ceramic vessels and images of flowers – inked on the vessels, floating in the background, raised with gel as a layer on top of the surface. “If I didn’t believe an object could have a kind of soul,” Denison says, “I wouldn’t bother to paint.” The title “360” describes an installation of 12 vessel paintings, taken from points of view that rotate completely around the object. It also describes the experience of being surrounded by vessels throughout the gallery space. Denison’s rich florals have been showing at the Alden Gallery since it opened in 2007.

The second half of the show, “Mark Palmer: Facing Facts,” is the Buffalo-based Palmer’s “exploration of the raw emotional world of mental disorder,” he says. “Each of these works has a common thread in that it began as an abstract painting underneath with the face being created from elements within the abstraction. The series incorporates a repetitive process of building up and breaking down the materials and paint, leaving hints of what lurks beneath.” Palmer, who has exhibited in Washington, D.C., and Buffalo, is the former owner of the Mark Palmer Gallery in Paducah, Kentucky. He has been with the Alden since its inception in 2007.

The gallery is open Thursday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday nights, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Contact: Howard Karren, 646-483-8164 / hjkarren@mac.com

Blue Vessel, by Alice Denison, 20 x 20 inches, mixed media on board

The Longest Road, by Mark Palmer

Text & Photos by MM Sebastian Araujo

Overcast and cloudy,an occasional drop or two,chilled beer in my hand…and
best of all, my 5 year old pal Elsha next to me catching all the booty her little basket will hold. Its Carnival Week here in olde P-Town and everyone is letting their hair down…except the Drag Queens who have been teasing theirs for days.My little pal has stood next to me often over these past years and I always am amazed at what catches her eye and what she is drawn to,so this year I follwed her eyes as much as possible and took every picture I could while on my knees dogging the crush of laughing folk. The passing parade amazed and bewitched her imagination . Often her eyes wide and laughter coming from her lips …and I thought yes,This is exactly how it should be…and more of these parades are needed in the world…so we all can be children again and live and love and laugh out loud and often…SO if you live someplace where the Parade doesn’t pass too often well than my friend all you need do is click your heels 3 times and repeat after me…There is no place like Ptown,There is no place like Ptown.