Formerly Fantasia Fair Transgender Week 2024 Just Come. Just Come. No Registration Required!
In 1974, members of Boston’s Cherrystones support group read about what was most likely the first organized convention for crossdressers and transsexuals in the U.S. Unfortunately, it was three thousand miles away, in the Pacific Northwest. “Why can’t we do something like that here in the East?” someone asked, and just like that, the fabulous Fantasia Fair was born.
Cherrystone members provided start-up funds and newly out of the closet Ariadne Kane was selected to organize and run a ten-day event. But what would it be like? What would it be called? Where would it be held? And at what time of the year?
Playing Twister at Dream 1989.
Ariadne Kane in 1974.
Cape Cod, southeast of Boston, is a peninsula shaped like a flexed arm. At its very end, where fingertips would be, lies Provincetown, (year-round population 3664) a combination fishing village and tourist destination. Since the 1800s it has been a haven for artists, writers, eccentrics, and queer people of all sorts; Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neal, Norman Mailer, E.E. Cummings, Kurt Vonnegut, painters Jackson Pollock, William Kooning, and Hans Hoffman, and many others (even closeted gay lawyer Roy Cohn!) lived or spent considerable amounts of time in P’Town, enjoying the national seashore and the pleasures of the quirky little village. Even better, Provincetown was off the beaten path and sufficiently distant from the mainland to provide anonymity for those who wished to keep their crossdressing from becoming public knowledge. October, after summer crowds of tourists had gone home and temperatures were moderate, would be the optimal time. And so the event, which group members named Fantasia Fair, was born.
Gifford House in the Early Twentieth Century.
Ari did her due diligence, and as mid-October 1975 rolled around arrangements were made and about forty people had registered. The entire event—events, meals, and lodging—would be at Gifford House, a historic small hotel near the center of town. Then disaster struck. Ari traveled to Provincetown two weeks before the scheduled start date to check on things and found a padlock and chains on the Gifford House’s doors. The bank had foreclosed! Things looked dire, and Ari considered canceling the event—but in those days there was no internet or cell phones to provide fast contact. In those early and closeted times few registrants had been willing to give Ari their phone numbers. That left the U.S. mail service. That might have provided sufficient notice, but for trans people, most mail was not door to door, but to a secretly rented postal box the recipient checked only god knows how often—and many were known only by a code name maintained by early publications like Virginia Prince’s Transvestia, which would forward mail sent to their protected subscribers, adding up to a week en route. All this meant cancellation was not an option.
The Crown and Anchor Inn as it is Today.
Fortunately, Stan Sorentino, co-owner of the other historic hote, Crown & Anchor, stepped up. He was willing to house and feed everyone and host the events, and at the same prices Ariadne had negotiated at Gifford House. Ari said yes, of course, and so Fantasia Fair, which almost ended before it had even begun, was held, and with great success.
By the end of the ten days, Ari and attendees realized Provincetown was such a welcome and affirming city that there was no need to confine the event to a single location. The whole town was open to the crossdressed registrants. No one said boo; few people even seemed to notice, and if they did, they were friendly. Ever since, Fantasia Fair has spanned the town, with events and banquets held here and there throughout the town and attendees staying in many of the hundreds of the town’s small bed and breakfasts and inns. There are not streets where transgender people are not walking.
Fantasia Fair Then: Registration HQ in the 1980s. Photo by Emily Sheldon.
For fifty years now Fantasia Fair has been a mainstay in Provincetown’s fall calendar and a treasured destination for transgender people of all sorts. It’s a fantastic event in which attendees can live in authenticity for an entire week (down from the original ten days) among their peers while being accepted and affirmed and without fear of being ridiculed or endangered. There has always been plenty to do, and yet time for leisurely meals, walks on the beaches, and having coffee with newfound friends.
Fantasia Fair Then: Alison Laing (L) and Virginia Prince in Intense Discussion. Photo by Emily Sheldon.
The Fair’s programming has always been first-rate and on the cutting edge of community and science and equality. Hundreds of notable transpeople and helping professionals, authors, filmmakers, artists, educators, activists, and musicians have attended. A week of being authentic has left almost every attendee more comfortable in their skin and more comfortable about being trans and has resulted in many making important life decisions about transition or about balancing crossdressing with other responsibilities, about personal style, about what they want to do with their lives. Many have their first taste of being onstage at the fabulous Follies and Common Threads Fashion Show and get performance fever. The many workshops and keynotes inform attendees about trans communities, our ever-changing standing in society and under the law, fashion trends, beauty tips, and scientific discoveries. Many fashionistas have been born at the Fair!
Best of all, perhaps, support for significant others has always been strong, with a professionally led spouse and partner track. As a result, hundreds of marriages and other relationships have been saved. And there’s a reason why the Fair has been called The Mother of All Transgender Events—many activists, support groups, trans conferences, and even some national organizations (IFGE, for instance) have been born during just after Fair week.
This year, October 20-27, Fantasia Fair will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with lots of glitz and glory. But it is no longer called Fantasia Fair. FanFair will always be at its heart, but its new focus is reflected in a new name: Transgender Week.
Since its start, a considerable number of transgender people have just “happened” to show up in town during Fair Week. They get to enjoy Provincetown’s many delights and commingle with their peers, registered and nonregistered, shop, eat seafood, watch whales, and hit the clubs and bars. Throughout the Fair’s long history, not one of the many people who have planned and run the event have have ever been anything but kind and welcoming to people who might, at other events, be considered interlopers. Over the decades many nonregistered individuals, feeling guilty, have cast their eyes down to avoid meeting ours, but there’s no need. They are our brothers and sisters, and we welcome them. In fact, since the turn of the century we have granted them free access to our six keynote talks and low-cost open mic, fashion show, and Follies talent show. We are now inviting everyone to come. No matter your identity, age, race, personal circumstances, or ability level, please come.
Our change of name, which we have implemented slowly over an eight year period, marks this change of mission and focus. We now want everyone, whether registered or not, to just show the hell up. We are determined to have more people of color, transmasculine and nonbinary people, and young folks—and more older folks—in town to enjoy themselves and be with their tribe. No obligations, no guilt, no monies to us. Just come. Just come. We are now full-on Transgender Week. We welcome everyone.
We understand there are expenses involved to travel to the very tip of Cape Cod and procure lodging there, and paying registration fees is an additional financial burden. But while we urge you to register and experience the full fabulosity of Trans Week, you aren’t required to. Just show up. Thousands flock to Provincetown for themed weeks for women, bear, and other LGBTQ subgroups, and we and Provincetown would love to see the same numbers during Trans Week. So if you’ve ever thought of coming to Provincetown in October but couldn’t or didn’t want to pay a registration fee, that’s now out of the way. Just come. Just come, and bring a pair of flat shoes, because you’ll be doing a lot of walking. Be with your peeps. Be with your tribe. Eat fresh seafood. Watch whales. Bike the dunes. Browse the many art galleries. Buy discounted fashion from the many boutiques. Stick your toes in the Atlantic Ocean. Just come to our Gala 50th Celebration (Ariadne will be there!) Just come, and not only this year. Come every year. Just come.
I will see you all October 20-27 in Provincetown. No registration is required. Donations are appreciated, but again, no money is required. Just come.
Please take a look at our most excellent website at www.transweek.org.
TRANS WEEK TODAY!
Presentation by Joey Colbey at Transweek 2023.
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Nick (L) and Cody Host the Common Threads Fashion Show
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