P-Town: Provincetown Provides the Perfect Ingredients for the Most Thrilling Halloween Yet

Provincetown, Massachusetts each year creates the perfect recipe to give visitors the most memorable, colorful and thrilling Halloween holiday experience. No other place in America celebrates bumps in the night quite like the town on the tip of…

At America’s First Destination, Halloween Now a Ten-Day Celebration

Provincetown, Massachusetts each year creates the perfect recipe to give visitors the most memorable, colorful and thrilling Halloween holiday experience. No other place in America celebrates bumps in the night quite like the town on the tip of Cape Cod. Here, Halloween now lasts for 10 days.

Festivities start on October 25 and will run through November 3 this year, giving Halloween revelers two weekends of entertainment.

Provincetown provides the perfect backdrop for Halloween. As the place where the Pilgrims first anchored after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the town oozes history. While other towns held witchcraft trials, Provincetown was adding layers of mystery and intrigue, while building a town that welcomes all, embraces diversity and holds the best celebrations. In this town of free expression, costumes range from the simple to the complex, and the gaudy to the glitzy.

It’s one of the most famous of eerie locations on the Atlantic Coast – a permanent set right out of a studio back lot, except here the shadows, dark alleys and misty silhouettes are enchantingly real. In the dark fog of an October night in Ptown, the ghoulish tolling of lighthouse bells ward off wayward ships, shown on historical maps as bones of those vessels that have met watery graves off this coast. The historic cemeteries bathe in soft moonlight where ghosts of the original pilgrims are said to still haunt what is known as “America’s First Destination.” At Halloween, this town is like nowhere else.

Most visitors will find their way to Hell Town. Rather than one house of horrors, this is a street full of scares. Held only every other year because of the outlandish production, Hell Town matches the best that Hollywood can offer. And, getting scared to death has benefits; proceeds go to AIDS charities and research.

The denizens of Provincetown take it upon themselves to make Halloween one of the year’s most anticipated events. Costume parties are held every night. Here, judging costumes becomes very difficult—many look like a year’s worth of effort were put into their creation. Yet, some winners don’t have much of a costume at all. While thousands don flashy and gaudy put-ons for Key West’s Fantasy Fest debauchery, and West Hollybees rent old movie costumes from studio warehouses, no one would be caught dead in anything so, well, commercial, in Ptown. It’s all about creativity and cleverness in America’s oldest continuous art colony.

Oftentimes, big shots from NYC steal away to the Cape to frolic in this creative style of show making, knowing that some of cabaret’s best drag talent are drawn to elevate the perennial brand-setter for cross-dressing to the highest levels of costuming. There are even gruff beasts growling nearby when the Spooky Bears roam the streets with their furry chests on full display.

Flash mobs dance in the streets with explosions of movement. Revelers can watch zombies getting a groove on, take part in a “Thriller” performance or create their own instant dance party.

For more details on events taking place during Halloween 2013 in Provincetown, visit http://www.ptown.org/halloween.asp. Early reservations are always recommended.