The toys are coming out of the box for this year's Provincetown Carnival

Life in plastic will be fantastic during this year’s Provincetown Carnival as the town prepares to host the 45th parade with the theme “Land of Toys.”

Carnival begins Aug. 12, ends Aug. 19 and features ticketed and free events. This year’s theme was largely inspired by the release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and the rejuvenated childhood nostalgia.

“A lot of people just want to embrace their favorite childhood memories, whether it be things from pop culture, from the toy box, whether it's things they watched on TV, and so this year, we realized that obviously with the release of the ‘Barbie’ film, that there was a huge interest coming in toys and toy culture,” Stephan Hengst, executive director for the Provincetown Business Guild, said.

What is the history of the Provincetown Carnival?

Carnival was created by the Provincetown Business Guild in 1978 with the hopes of drawing international attention to Provincetown’s LGBTQ+ community.

“The idea behind it was to express the size, strength and solidarity of Provincetown’s gay and lesbian community,” Hengst said. “It's great to see the parade continue to grow and proliferate. Provincetown is now the world's premier gay and lesbian community and travel destination. We are just proud to give the community an opportunity to showcase its diversity through the continued growth and participation in the parade.”

Last year’s parade marked Carnival’s first return since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We expect close to a quarter million people in and out of Provincetown over the course of the week for all the events,” Hengst said. “We already have more parade registrants than we did last year at this time so we are anticipating the continuation of Carnival’s growth post-pandemic…We're excited to see that the community come back bigger than ever and we're going to have a great parade.”

What time is the Carnival parade in Provincetown?

The parade will be held on Aug. 17 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In 2022, the Provincetown Business Guild launched the artist matchmaker program in which businesses sponsor an artist for $5,000 and in turn, the artist creates a parade float and works with the business guild for assembly.

“It takes a lot of the onus off the business owner for putting together a float for the parade,” Hengst said. “Last year we had four different businesses participate in the artist matchmaking program, and this year we have 10. The program was a huge success last year. It brought a lot of creativity into the parade and we're excited to see that program continue to grow this year.”

Alyssa Edwards, of 'Ru Paul's Drag Race' fame, will star in Provincetown Carnival

Drag queen Alyssa Edwards will be this year’s featured Town Hall act on Aug. 16. Edwards, or Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson, starred in “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” in 2012 and in “Ru Paul’s Drag Race: All Stars” in 2016 and runs Beyond Belief Dance Company in Garland, Texas, which was the focus of the Netflix docuseries “Dancing Queen.”

“I do hear that this is quite legendary to be over here at Town Hall,” Edwards said. “I immediately said ‘Yes, sign me up. Give me two extra days there ... I'm gonna pack my bags and I'm gonna go over there and deliver a Texas-sized drag show.’”

Outside of her performance, Edwards is looking forward to being in the community and enjoying the festivities.

“I want to be gay,” Edwards said. “My partner's coming with me. I want to put on my caftan and my sunglasses and my jelly sandals and I want to stroll up and down the boardwalk. I want to see the community … the people. I want to be with the people. I want to smile. I want to hear gay, fun music and celebrate life.”

Toy-centric events, parties and shows will go on throughout the week across Provincetown.

For Babes & Bois, a Provincetown organization that hosts weekly events for "the queer and sapphically-inclined," Barbie-themed events were a must.

“We had it on our radar that it was coming out and since the carnival theme was land of toys, we were planning everything back in April [and in] May, we were like, ‘Oh, no brainer. Let's definitely capitalize on all of this hype,’” Sam Sewell, co-founder of Babes & Bois, said.

Babes & Bois will be hosting a slew of events throughout the week, but their pool party at the Seaglass Inn is definitely one to look out for as it’s the first women’s pool party to be held during Carnival.

“There really hasn't been much geared towards women in terms of pool parties for Carnival but we are collaborating with [Nadine Licostie] and [Faith Licostie] who own Seaglass and it's one of the largest LGBTQ+ properties and women-owned properties in Provincetown,” Sewell said. “We thought it would be a really powerful event.”

At the Provincetown Brewing Co., they’re taking on a hot wheels theme, aptly named “Thot Wheels,” with events like “Pimp My Ride,” a pinecone derby race.

“That's partly inspired because the building that we're in back in the '50s and '60s was an old mechanic shop,” Chris Spaulding, general manager and events manager for Provincetown Brewing Co, said. “...We thought it would really be fun to go into, like a race car kind of pit crew classic cars kind of vibe.”

Provincetown Brewing Co. and Babes & Bois will also be cohosting some Carnival events like the “Legend of the Pied Piper” pop-up — in partnership with the Provincetown Business Guild — as homage to the now-closed lesbian bar.

“It's just a throwback and a nod to that moment,” Spaulding said. “We really try to make a concerted effort to carve out space for the lesbian community, especially since there aren't any dedicated bars in town.”

Carnival will take place from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19 all across Provincetown. Most events are ticketed, ranging in prices from $10 to $250 for an all-week pass.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Theme, dates, parade time: What to know for Provincetown Carnival 2023