Swim for Life Celebrates 30th anniversary September 9, 2017

Year one: September 9, 1988. There was an offshore breeze, the water was unusually cold, but eighteen swimmers showed up with just ten days notice. $6,000 was raised for the Provincetown Positive People with AIDS Coalition. The swimmers sang, “Row, row, row your boat” and took the plunge to the sound of bagpipes. When they reached Long Point there was no plan to bring them back to the Boatslip beach. Rides were hitched from passing boats.Thirty years later the event attracts 400 swimmers, 150 kayakers, boaters and volunteers. Sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact, this year’s Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla is set for September 9, 2017 at the Boatslip Beach Club and in magnificent Provincetown Harbor.The public is invited to greet the swimmers beginning at 11:00am. The Celebration of Life Concert, produced by John Thomas, will be held the evening before the Swim, and the Mermaid Brunch will follow the Swim on the Boatslip deck, open to the public and catered by Far Land Provisions. Zoe Lewis will provide the entertainment."This is a very special year for this Provincetown tradition - three decades of celebrating and supporting this spiral spit of sand we call home," states artist and director, Jay Critchley.The fundraiser builds community and provides year round funding and support for social services, youth and educational organizations that include: AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Helping Our Women, Outer Cape Health Services, Soup Kitchen of Provincetown, Provincetown Rescue Squad, Lower Cape Ambulance, Accessible Provincetown, The Compact Community Fund, Provincetown Schools, West End Racing Club and Cape Cod Children’s Place.This post-Labor-Day, 1.4-mile swim has raised over $4M for AIDS, women's health and the community since 1988. This year's Swim poster and t-shirt image features the dory of the late Eddie Ritter, the last historic dory in Provincetown. The photo is by Allan MacKinnon, with the design by Andrea Pluhar. T-shirts will be available at Seamen’s Bank downtown next week.For swimmers and kayakers, personal funding pages may be set up through the Swim website: www.swim4life.org. For those unable to attend the Swim this year, they might consider a Satellite Swim in a pool or another location.Business sponsors include: Provincetown Banner (media sponsor), Seamen’s Bank (lead sponsor), and the Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Beach Club, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Crown & Anchor, Boatslip Beach Club, Harbor Hotel, Berta Walker Gallery, Mussel Beach Health Club, Cape Air, Bay State Cruise, Art’s Dune Tours, and Seashore Point.Swimmers, kayakers, boaters, volunteers and friends of the Swim for Life may contact www.swim4life.org for registration, pledge sheets and volunteer opportunities.

Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla Sept 10, 2016

Greetings

Swimmers, Kayakers, Boaters, Volunteers and Friends,

First, in this time of horrendous violence, I'd like to thank you for being part of the Swim for Life community. We are hope!

Summer weather is slowly moving in and the harbor and town are coming to life.  Hope you all had a splendid winter and spring and are gearing up to be outside and in or on the water. We look forward to your presence at the 29th Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 10. Yes # 29!This community tradition and fundraiser is for AIDS, women's health & the community - sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact.

For this year's event we invited artist Bill Evaul to help us celebrate the Centennial of the Provincetown Players and playwright Eugene O'Neill's debut play, Bound East for Cardiff,  produced  on a wharf in Provincetown in 1916. And O'Neill was an avid swimmer too!**

We are initiating a voluntary pre-registration process this year to assist us with accurate and legible data collection. Swimmers will still need to register on September 10 to confirm your pledges and receive your cap, number and t-shirt. Volunteers, please sign up by mid August if possible.Thank you all for keeping a special place in your heart for Provincetown.Watch for periodic updates before the big event.

Have a fun summer.

Peace,

Jay Critchley

PS. The short film, Ribbons, by Brandon Cordeiro, inspired by the Swim for Life, is featured at this week's Provincetown Film Fest!

** The Provincetown Players are credited with revolutionizing American theater. O'Neill  went on to win three Pulitzer Prizes and was also named Nobel Laureate. He lived in an old Coast Guard Station in the dunes for many years and his legacy was influential in preserving the historic dune shacks in the Cape Cod National Seashore. And O'Neill was an avid swimmer too!

The Provincetown Community Compact, which sponsors the Swim, manages two dune shacks primarily devoted to perpetuating arts and community in this unique, pristine environment: C-Scape and Fowler. It also supports community projects through its "Think-ubator" program.

Swim celebrates the town's art & culture

Provincetown is a crossroads, luring people from across the planet to this spiral spit of sand. From the Portuguese in the 1800s to the artists who flocked to New York and here after WWI, it is a fertile place. During a decade a century ago, 1910-1920 - the “Centennial Decade” - Provincetown became the national epicenter of cultural transformation.Framed by the dedication of the Pilgrim Monument in 1910 and the 300^th anniversary of the First Landing of the Pilgrims in Provincetown Harbor in 1920, was the founding of the Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) in 1914 and the birth of modern American Theater in 1915. The Provincetown Players included Eugene O’Neill, Neith Boyce, Susan Glaspell and John Reed, a communist journalist who wrote the famous account of the Russian Revolution, “Ten Days That Shook the World”. This was the Progressive Era sweeping the country.One of the artists who lived here during this dynamic time included painter and printmaker Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt, a Swede whose family moved to the US in 1892, and also a founder of the Provincetown Players. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and lived in Paris, London and Taos, New Mexico. During his three years here - 1914-17 - he discovered a new way to print color woodblocks from a single block of wood, introducing the innovative white-line block printing method now called the Provincetown Print.BJO Nordfeldt’s delicate etching from PAAM’s collection for the Swim, “Boats on Shore”, 1916, shows a family on the shoreline with two of the many wharves in Provincetown Harbor, and the sand dunes in the distance. The boats are being repaired, the children are at play. One hundred years later the Swim for Life connects this legacy of art, environment, industry and community. The waterfront is our identity.Join us for the 27^th annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 6, 2014, a benefit for AIDS, women’s health & the community. Please contact: www.swim4life.org.Business Sponsors this year include: Lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Media sponsor, Provincetown Banner, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort, Marc Jacobs, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Berta Walker Gallery, Shawn Nightingale Productions and Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S., with support from the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

Swim survey response highlights community

Over the cold, snowy winter we poured over the results of the questionnaire we sent to swimmers and kayakers from the 2013 event and found some great suggestions and heartwarming responses like the one above. The long passionate 26-year history of the Swim for Life has created a unique tradition that supports our year round community. Past surveys have focused on the quality of the experience and water safety, this one also included questions about fundraising and the Swim’s economic impact on the town.“I don't need to decide to do the swim. I already have. I will do the swim every year. It is a very important day for our family. I swim in memory of my oldest friend who I spent many happy vacations with in town. I Love, love, love that this is a fundraiser. I feel so happy to hit my friends up for money to aid people in this most beloved place.”From swimmers we received an admirable 15% return rate (156 of 1,000), from kayakers, 27% return (27 of 102). The most surprising result was the response to the question: Is the Swim primarily a fundraiser or a community/memorial/athletic/other event? Of course, some would see it as all of the above, but when asked to choose, 73% of swimmers saw it primarily as a community event, while 52% of kayakers saw it as a fundraiser.1997 Swim, Donna Flax. While swimmers raise the majority of pledges, it is significant that they see the event in the broader context of the community, which reflects the mission of the Swim’s sponsor, the Provincetown Community Compact (The Compact), whose mission is to support the health and well being of the community. Kayakers recognize the importance of their role on the water in support of swimmers. Most significant in terms of economic impact, the average off-Cape swimmer and kayaker (75% of participants) stays 3.4 nights in a hotel or B+B and brings along 4 people with them; a large number stay 1-2 weeks, and some bring dozens of friends with them. This, along with the $200,000 in pledges collected by swimmers and kayakers (75% from off-Cape) creates a huge economic impact in the town."It is a great fund raiser for several important causes, the whole community is involved...they know what I'm talking about when I bring it up, and have pride in it."Join us for the 27^th annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 6, 2014, a benefit for AIDS, women’s health & the community. Please contact: www.swim4life.org. Swim t-shirts are available at Seamen’s Bank, downtown, Venture Athletics and the Art Association & Museum.Business Sponsors this year include: Lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Media sponsor, Provincetown Banner, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort, Marc Jacobs, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Berta Walker Gallery, Shawn Nightingale Productions and Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S., and support from the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

2014 Swim poster by BJO Nordfeldt (1916)

Swim for Life celebrates the town’s art and culture.Download + print poster.Provincetown is a crossroads, luring people from across the planet to this spiral spit of sand. From the Portuguese in the 1800s to the artists who flocked to New York and here after WWI, it is a fertile place. During a decade a century ago, 1910-1920 - the “Centennial Decade” - Provincetown became the national epicenter of cultural transformation.Framed by the dedication of the Pilgrim Monument in 1910 and the 300^th anniversary of the First Landing of the Pilgrims in Provincetown Harbor in 1920, was the founding of the Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) in 1914 and the birth of modern American Theater in 1915. The Provincetown Players included Eugene O’Neill, Neith Boyce, Susan Glaspell and John Reed, a communist journalist who wrote the famous account of the Russian Revolution, “Ten Days That Shook the World”. This was the Progressive Era sweeping the country.One of the artists who lived here during this dynamic time included painter and printmaker Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt, a Swede whose family moved to the US in 1892, and also a founder of the Provincetown Players. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and lived in Paris, London and Taos, New Mexico. During his three years here - 1914-17 - he discovered a new way to print color woodblocks from a single block of wood, introducing the innovative white-line block printing method now called the Provincetown Print.BJO Nordfeldt’s delicate etching from PAAM’s collection for the Swim, “Boats on Shore”, 1916, shows a family on the shoreline with two of the many wharves in Provincetown Harbor, and the sand dunes in the distance. The boats are being repaired, the children are at play. One hundred years later the Swim for Life connects this legacy of art, environment, industry and community. The waterfront is our identity.Join us for the 27^th annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 6, 2014, a benefit for AIDS, women’s health & the community. Please contact: www.swim4life.org.Business Sponsors this year include: Lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Media sponsor, Provincetown Banner, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort, Marc Jacobs, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Berta Walker Gallery, Shawn Nightingale Productions and Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S.

27th Swim for Life set for Sept 6, 2014

Please join the hundreds of swimmers, friends and paddlers from across the United States who consider Provincetown, Massachusetts their spiritual home, and return to participate in the annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, Sept 6, 2014.This fundraiser of the Provincetown Community Compact supports vital year round services for AIDS, women's health and the community. Come share with us the special relationships we have established and the community we have created through the healing waters of Provincetown Harbor.Thanks to those who are challenging themselves and joining us for the first time, and those who return year after year, bringing along family and friends.The community is grateful2014 Swim design: BJO Nordfelt, etching, 1916, in commemoration of the Centennial of the Provincetown Art Assn & Museum