When P Town avant-garde artist and LGBT activist Jay Critchley started the town’s annual SWIM FOR LIFE in 1988 at the height of the AIDS pandemic, no way could he have imagined that 30 years later the Event would be the Town’s largest Celebration of Life.
Always held the weekend after Labor Day the SWIM FOR LIFE now attracts over 400 swimmers from all over the world of all ages and shapes and sizes to brave the chilly Massachusetts waters on the 1.4 mile swim across the bay. It has raised a staggering $4 million to date for the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and HOW (Helping Our Women) and the several other local community groups.
One of the most moving parts of the whole weekend are the Prayer Ribbons in which anyone can write a dedication to loved ones who they have lost, and the Ribbons are displayed blowing in the wind at the Boat Slip where the Race ends.
This year’s Swim is on Saturday 9th September and IT IS STILL NOT TOO LATE to :-
- Register To Swim
- Join the army of volunteers who make everything run like clockwork
- Donate money or Sponsor a Swimmer
- Join in all the other associated events like the Celebration of Life Concert on Friday 8th Sept.
- Be there on the Finish Line at the Boat Slip cheering the brave souls on, and also taking a quiet moment to celebrate the lives of all the people we lost to the AIDS plague.
Details and more information at www.swim4life.org
P.S. From last year’s Event here is Brandon Cordeiro talking about the Team he put together to honor the lives lost in the PULSE massacre.
