Though never pitched as a “whistle-stop” or “town meeting” event, many Provincetown residents and visitors were sorry not to catch a glimpse of Hillary Clinton when she came to town last week for a private fundraising event at Land’s End. Still, Clinton supporters in the little town at the tip of the Cape have a big reason to be proud.
In just a few hours, the 325 attendees, mostly locals or supporters with strong Provincetown ties, added more than $502,000 to Clinton’s campaign.
Describing the event, a July 9, 2015 Provincetown Banner reported that:
“The gala was organized by Alix Ritchie, a longtime resident of Provincetown and former owner and publisher of the Banner, and Bryan Rafanelli, an event planner who works frequently at the Cape tip.
“While Provincetown is awash with fundraisers in July and August, the level of excitement around a fundraiser for Clinton was off the charts,” said Ritchie. “The July 2 event lived up to every bit of its billing. It was a beautiful day.”
An excited crowd of 325 enthusiastic attendees added more than $502,000 to Clinton’s campaign.
‘[This was] very likely a record for a political fundraiser on Cape Cod,’ said Ritchie. The fact that Clinton arrived two hours late due to a delay in Philadelphia did not impact her supporters.’
Clinton arrived around 5 p.m., after catching a Cape Air flight, piloted by state Sen. Dan Wolf, the airline’s founder, from Logan. During her visit, automobile traffic was rerouted but foot traffic was largely unimpeded, and many people strolled by Mullin’s home in the far West End hoping to catch snippets of her speech.
Security was tight. Some residents reported that Secret Service agents had requested that any neighbors within the line of sight of the huge white tent serving as the venue remain off their decks, porches and any other elevated vantage points for the duration of Clinton’s visit.
Clinton used every second of her address not just to electrify the crowd, but also to impress upon them the depth of her emotional assessment of the actual process that had ultimately brought her here to Provincetown.
‘In a rousing and at times moving speech, Clinton spoke of LGBT equality — both celebrating the recent Supreme Court decision and talking about the plight of so many LGBT individuals who still face crushing discrimination — which drew sustained applause from the crowd,’ said Ritchie. ‘She urged everyone to think about all the people who cannot be here, and the struggle these people face every day. She got a huge hand.'”
On June 26, 2015, the day of the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that made marriage equality the law of the land, a New York Times article noted about Clinton’s then-upcoming Provincetown visit:
“The seaside enclave – in the state that was first to legalize same-sex marriage – has long been a Shangri-La for gay men and lesbians who enjoy raucous, romantic or just relaxing weekends in the scenic city at the northern tip of Cape Cod.
In 2012, the Census Bureau reported that Provincetown had 163.1 same-sex couples per 1,000 people, the most of any city in the country.
As much as it may call to mind drag-queen pool parties or kitschy rainbow-festooned nightclubs, Provincetown has served a far more serious purpose: Historically, it was one of the few resort locales where gay men and lesbians could openly enjoy a vacation without the threat of discrimination or worse.
Mrs. Clinton, who maintains strong support among gay people, and whose campaign recently released a video showing same-sex couples before and during their weddings, will attend a fund-raiser in Provincetown hosted by Bryan Rafanelli, an event planner, and Alix Ritchie, a prominent gay-rights activist. The event is part of a string of fund-raisers Mrs. Clinton has arranged in and around Boston in early July.
It was planned weeks ago — but just became extremely well timed.”
