Father Tony On Bear Week

“How you structure your Provincetown days and nights is telling. During Bear Week, I tried to do too much. I loved the people-watching from the chairs in front of Joe’s coffee shop, in the crowd at Tea Dance, or over a burger at Bubala’s. I loved the music at Bob Mould’s Blowoff party at the Boatslip, I loved my boat excursion with SFGN’s Brian McNaught, my posse’s bike trip through the pine forest and hike on the breakwater. [snip]

“Brian McNaught has a ritual when he is out on the bay. He rounds a metal buoy that holds a bell. His boat’s wake swings the buoy and he dedicates the ringing of the bell to the memory of a friend who has died. I looked tearfully to shore while he did this, and silently recited the names of departed friends like the beads of a rosary. If I must have ghosts, Provincetown is always where I’ll come to visit them and Bear Week is the happiest time for a reunion.” – Father Tony Adams, writing for South Florida Gay News.