My partner Mark and I just returned from a wonderful long summer weekend in Provincetown, Massachusetts on the tip of Cape Cod (to the left is a picture Mark took: a view of the harbor from our B&B, the White Porch Inn). For the uninitiated among you, Provincetown (or Ptown) is often referred to as one of the gayest places on earth. It’s an artists colony that was “discovered” by gays and lesbians in the 20th century (thanks in part to the notable playwrights and others who summered there) and has continued to be a summer playground for gays and lesbians ever since.
This week, Ptown is playing host to “Family Week,” one in a series of annual celebrations that draw diverse crowds of gays and lesbians (and their families) to visit during the spring, summer and fall seasons. The New York Times last week reported on the dramatic growth of Family Week and the decision by its sponsor, the Family Pride Coalition, to partner with R Family Vacations to produce the week-long event because it had just gotten too big for one small advocacy organization to manage on their own.
This change is significant because it is yet another sign of the growing power of the various gay and lesbian consumer audiences. Family Week attracts large numbers of gay and lesbian families and their children, visibly demonstrating the impact of this growing constituency within the gay and lesbian community. I checked out the Family Pride Web site description of the week’s events and saw that a few events were already sold out.
This might not seem like much of a trend, but you must understand something about Provincetown to understand how significant these changes are. Because of its location at the end of Cape Cod, Provincetown literally feels like the end of the earth. It’s a place that you go to on purpose, not a destination you just notice from the freeway on a trip somewhere else. The town is uniquely its own place – no malls, no chain stores, and lots of people walking or riding bicycles as they shop in the local stores and eat in the local restaurants. It’s small town America with a gay twist. If it’s attracting corporate interest, then corporate marketers are really waking up to the possibilities of marketing to our community.
During our visit, we shopped, ate out at restaurants (which have progressively improved over the years to the point that they rival fine dining establishments almost anywhere) and attended several shows. Provincetown in the summer is like summer stock for gay and lesbian performers. In the past, every gay and lesbian comic you’ve ever (or never) heard of performed in Provincetown alongside famous/infamous drag queens and assorted other celebrities. That was unchanged this year, but I was surprised this year to see the corporate sponsorship of many of these shows: in addition to sponsorship by LGBT companies such as Olivia, RSVP Vacations and others, many shows were supported by Bud Light or other “mainstream” brand names not normally associated with such an “out of the way” and mostly gay locale.
Gay and lesbian travel and tourism is an increasing focus of corporate marketers and interest in our community when we travel is intersecting with recognition of the various audiences within the larger whole, such as gay and lesbian parents. It may have been just one long weekend in Ptown, but I take my experience, and the reported growth of Family Week, as a sign that the powerful, loyal gay and lesbian consumer will be less and less “untapped” as more marketers wake up to the potential of our community and seek to reach us in new ways and new places.
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