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A fundraiser by The Provincetown Film Society includes 10 spots for a tour of P-town sex sites, led by the irreplaceable John Waters.
A date with John Waters is one of the items up for bid in a fundraiser by The Provincetown Film Society, which runs the Provincetown International Film Festival. Waters will take winning bidders out for dinner and drinks, and give them signed copy of his latest book, Mr. Know It All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder. Even better: the director of Hairspray and Pink Flamingos, promises to take 10 successful bidders on what he’s calling the “John Waters Dick Dock Tour,” a guided outing to see P-town’s notorious queer sex spots, culminating with the waterfront cruising spot (Dick Dock).
Here’s the description of the item: “Join writer, director John Waters on a tour of Provincetown’s past and public sex spots. Hear the stories and visit the sites. After the tour, join John for martinis and dinner at Bubala’s By the Bay. Secret July date and time and location pickup to be announced. 10 guests only.”
Waters, who has spent every summer in P-town for nearly 60 years, has actively supported the local film fest since it began, and presents the annual Filmmaker on the Edge award and interviews the winner.
In a video about the fundraiser, PFS board member Julia King, explained its importance following 2020. “Since our cinema’s been closed since March and we didn’t have an in-person film festival this year…we decided to really dig deep and find tons of really fun P-town auction items. We really tried to make the auction items range from really small, fun souvenirs to expensive experiences that are very special.”
In an interview with LGBTQNation.com Waters declined to provide the exact location of Provincetown’s Dick Dock, but it is common knowledge in the community that an area in the vicinity of the Boatslip Resort off Commercial Street has been a sexual meeting spot for men after dark.
The 74-year-old director told LGBTQ Nation that leading a tour of local sex spots and having cocktails and dinner because he wanted his contribution to be memorable, “I wanted it to be something in the spirit of me,” he said. “I didn’t want to do some boring thing. I just thought it would be funny and I think it will be funny. It’s a secret location. It’s only 10 people. I’m going to take them to all the sex spots in Provincetown that are no longer, and the Dick Dock, which everybody knows about in Provincetown.”
During an online auction preview, Blythe Frank, the PFS executive director, predicted the tour and dinner would draw a lot of bids, “This is John Waters leading a tour of the Dick Dock in Provincetown and then all of the sexual exploits and the history of Provincetown,” she said. “It is deep and it is involved and it is a lot of fun. And then moving on to dinner with him at Bubala’s to hang out and have drinks and talk about all of it. It’s a piece of Provincetown history, and John Waters has been such a huge part of our organization and a huge support to us, so I think it’s going to be one of our most talked-about items that we offer in this auction and for many years to come.”
The film society hopes to raise more than $10,000 with this once in a lifetime experience.
The Provincetown Film Society Winter Auction includes more than 160 items many of them travel related. Some other items include:
Bidding ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, February 7.
