PROVINCETOWN — After a year on the job, Provincetown 400 Executive Director Lisa Giuffre will publically tout seven scheduled 2020 events that celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing here, as well as the launch of the Provincetown 400 website.
“It’s really our coming out party,” Giuffre said on Monday.
However, only four of the events are new: the Opening Ceremony (June 6, 2020); the Landing Commemoration Ceremony (Nov. 11, 2020); Explorative Five — Path of Pilgrims (Nov. 12-Dec. 16, 2020); and The Oceanus Festival, which celebrates the birth of the first child aboard the Mayflower (Sept. 6-Nov. 9, 2020).
The other events are from other organizations: The Maritime Festival and Parade of Lights (Aug. 29, 2020) was created by Plymouth 400; the General Society of Mayflower Descendants Visit Provincetown (Sept. 13, 2020) was organized by the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum with Bay State Cruise Company (its owner, Mike Glasfeld, is on the Provincetown 400 Executive Committee); and the 400th Commemoration of the First Harvest Feast (Nov. 16, 2021), expands on an event the Provincetown Schools reenact every year.
The announcements will come at “All Aboard with Provincetown 400,” a party that starts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Sage Inn at 336 Commercial St. It is free and open to the public.
“It’s basically an opportunity to mingle with a cocktail for a couple of hours, hors d’oeuvres and jazz entertainment by Bart Weismann,” Giuffre said. “What we really want to do is provide people with the information about the programs and events we have planned so far, reveal the website and hopefully people will get excited about it and rally around it.”
Giuffre said no events are scheduled until the year 2020, but this winter and spring she hopes to get the ball rolling.
“I really just need to wrap my head around all of it,” Giuffre said. “We have opportunities to have book readings, presentations, concerts. I just need to get those scheduled.”
The Provincetown 400 website has been a long time coming, though Plymouth 400 has had a comprehensive website that includes events that are happening now, as well as 2020 signature events and programs.
“Plymouth 400 has been around for a lot longer than us,” Giuffre said. “They’ve done the groundwork and there’s a lot we can benefit from.”
The first event scheduled in 2020, the Opening Ceremony on Saturday, June 6, is referred to by Giuffre as the “pomp and circumstance event.” Giuffre intends to coordinate with musician John Thomas to create this month-long celebration of the arts, but she said they are still figuring out the details. She intends it to be a multicultural arts festival, featuring visual exhibitions and performances that recognize the internationally diverse population of explorers, artists, sailors, fishermen, authors, workers and visitors who come here.
“A lot of details for the 2020 events will flesh out closer to [that] time,” Giuffre said.
The second event, Maritime Festival and Parade of Lights, celebrates the Mayflower’s journey from Provincetown to Plymouth. It will be held in conjunction with Plymouth and Giuffre thinks it will be the biggest event in 2020.
“It’s a joint event,” Giuffre said. “Obviously, we are programming what happens here in Provincetown, but they are having a similar event in Plymouth.”
She hopes to get the Mayflower replica to come to Provincetown in 2020, and maybe even in 2019, when the ship will be touring a number of ports. There’s no funding in place yet to make that happen. Giuffre also hopes to work with Harbormaster/Pier Manager Rex McKinsey to bring tall ships, schooners and naval ships into the harbor to honor Provincetown’s rich maritime history.
The third 2020 event will be held on Sunday, Sept. 13, and will bring the General Society of Mayflower Descendants to Provincetown. Bay State Cruise will provide transportation from Boston to Provincetown. The group will have a luncheon at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum, which will be followed by a reenactment of the signing of the Mayflower Compact.
From Sept. 6 to Nov. 9, The Oceanus Festival will take place. Selectmen Chair Cheryl Andrews felt that the first birth in Provincetown Harbor, that of Peregrine White on Nov. 20, 1620, should be recognized. Giuffre has instead chosen to honor Oceanus.
“Oceanus is the name of the baby that was born on the Mayflower during the journey,” Giuffre said.
Giuffre said the Landing Commemoration Ceremony on Nov. 11, 2020, will happen at the Provincetown Inn, though she said she has not spoken to the inn’s owners or received approval to hold the event there.
The last event in 2020 will be the Exploration Five — Path of the Pilgrims, which will give people a chance to explore the path that Pilgrims walked during their five weeks on Cape Cod. The sites that are part of this path include the Cape Cod National Seashore’s Pilgrim Heights area and the Pilgrim Spring Trail, where it is believed the Pilgrims found their first drink of fresh water. It will also include Truro’s Corn Hill and Eastham’s First Encounter Beach.
Giuffre said she has been speaking with Provincetown Schools Supt. Beth Singer to coordinate the 400th commemoration of the First Harvest Feast on Nov. 16, 2021, which the school has put on for several years. Giuffre hopes to make it a larger, community-wide event featuring local chefs and mixologists, as well as entertainment.
“The opportunities are endless for what we could do,” Giuffre said. “We need to really balance how much we do with the resources we have. We can’t do every idea we come up with, because we will go crazy, but we need to move forward with the best ideas. … It also depends on funding.”
Giuffre said she will apply for grants over the winter.
At “All Aboard with Provincetown 400,” there will also be sign-up sheets for several committees and information on how to donate individually or become a corporate sponsor.
