13th ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF LIFE

FREE COMMUNITY CONCERT ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8 AT 8PM

AT UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALIST MEETING HOUSE OF PROVINCETOWN

On every Friday after Labor Day since 1994, the historic and elegant sanctuary of Provincetown’s Unitarian-Universalist Meeting House in the center of town has hosted an event filled with music, celebration, life, memory, and joy. It is the annual CELEBRATION OF LIFE concert, free in every aspect of the word: free admission, free performances, free space, time and labor.

The Celebration of Life is presented in association with the annual Provincetown Harbor Swim for Life and Paddler Flotilla, which launches the next morning, but the Friday night Celebration is not a fund-raiser: it’s a FUN-raiser. Luminarias set along the path to the front door guide hundreds of Provincetown’s extended community into the sanctuary where aromas and music fill the space. At precisely 8pm, hundreds of colorful prayer ribbons from past Swims rise up until they arch from the top of the trompe l’oeil ceiling to begin another Celebration of Life.

This year’s performers include Arlen, Jon Arterton, Adam Berry, Peter Bez, Judy Brubaker, Anthony de Mare, Peter Donnelly, Jared Hagan, Siobhan Henshaw, Alison Hyder, Roxanne Layton, Zoë Lewis, James Mack, Mary J. Martin, Sylvie Richard, John Thomas, Bobby Wetherbee, Kate Wolf, & others.

Hundreds of local and visiting performers have shared their talents at the Celebrations. In 2001, days before the September 11 attacks, Tibetan monks in ceremonial maroon and gold attire chanted a prayer for healing. Until 2003, a women’s drumming circle ecstatically began the Celebration with an extended improvisation; the loss of these women to other communities is symptomatic of the profound economic and cultural changes occurring in Provincetown. Poet David Matias and musician Laurel Brooke, both now passed on, graced the stage for many years. Actresses from Beverly Bentley to Marj Conn have participated. During one Celebration a new child was joyously ‘presented’ to the community by his parents.

The Celebration of Life’s spirit is another expression of the legendary caregiving capacity that Provincetown’s people continue to express in their daily lives.

“my fave show of the year” – Zoë Lewis

 “one of the greatest events in Ptown” – Peter Donnelly

“Celebrate your life, every day.” – Laurel Brooke, Celebration of Life 1998

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