There’s only a few weeks left to participate in this very unique pandemic year’s annual Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, the annual benefit for AIDS and women’s health organizations.
For the Swim’s 33rd year, they’re calling it the “Swimming in Place Challenge, Our Place, Your Place,” and it’s virtual, so you can participate today, tomorrow, anytime through September 12, when it all comes to a grand finale with a virtual online event. And you can do it from anywhere this year, not just the P’town Harbor.
Take the plunge, or just take a look at the official website, at swim4life.org.
For 32 years, thousands have plunged into Provincetown Harbor and stroked or paddled their way to raise life-saving funds for AIDS and women’s health organizations. This year, faced with pandemic restrictions of public gatherings, Swim founder Jay Critchley moved the challenge from its traditional day-long swim-and-kayak benefit and celebration in early September to virtually all summer long … and from not just P’town Harbor to wherever anyone can swim, kayak or simply take a stroll.
Founder Jay Critchley, an artist and the director of the Provincetown Community Compact, said that although he expects the swim to take place, there isn’t likely to be the traditional gathering of friends and supporters. He encourages swimmers to join in the Swimming in Place Challenge and swim where they live. The public is invited to join swimmers, volunteers, kayakers, walkers and boaters to create a challenge in their home place or in Provincetown and to take part in a virtual online celebration from Provincetown on September 12.
“The Swim for Life’s essence embodies Provincetown as a place of healing and compassion,” says Critchley whose latest public art project is “36 Solar Lights,” for which he’s placed lights at community buildings and other sites and spaces to highlight Provincetown’s committed response to COVID-19.
“This global pandemic has no borders,” Critchley says. “Please show your longtime love of Provincetown in our time of urgency.”
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