Paul Fanizzi receives David Asher Volunteer Award

The Provincetown Community Compact announces that Paul Fanizzi will receive the David Asher Volunteer Award at the 36th Provincetown Swim for Life on September 9, 2023. 

The Provincetown Community Compact, sponsor of the Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, is pleased to honor Paul Fanizzi for his resilient spirit and commitment to the town’s year round economy and  his ongoing support of community organizations and causes. Paul Fanizzi has been a stalwart sponsor of the Swim since he opened Fanizzi’s Restaurant by the Sea in 2001, including during years of rebuilding his signature dining room. 

Affable with an infectious smile, yet private and behind the scenes, Paul runs one of the most successful year round restaurants in town.  Fanizzi’s has been re-built more than once in the aftermath of powerful and destructive storms. When survivor mode kicks in, patrons keep cheering him on, returning time and again to sit in the dining room over the ocean below. As one patron said, it’s like being on a cruise ship.  Warmth, good cheer, fabulous food, and of course, spectacular views make Fanizzi’s one of Provincetown’s beloved restaurants.

Thank you, Paul, for your love of Provincetown and for literally holding up your important niche on our Cape tip sand spit. 

Paul will be honored with the David Asher Volunteer Award at the Awards Ceremony at the Mermaid Brunch following the Swim for Life on September 9 at 10:00 am at Cannery Wharf Park, 387 Commercial Street. The Swim route runs along the East End shoreline of Provincetown Harbor from the Breakwater Hotel to the park.  The public is invited to the festivities, cheering the swimmers at the finish line beginning at 9:00 am, and joining the Mermaid Brunch at 10:00 am catered by Far Land Provisions with music by Zoe Lewis.

Swimmers, kayakers and volunteers may register up to the day of the event. The Celebration of Life Concert will return this year after a four-year covid absence on Friday evening at 8:00 pm at the UU Meeting House, directed by John Thomas. Shoreline residents are invited to host Watch Parties along the Swim route to cheer on the swimmers. Public Watch Parties are planned at the Cape Codder Guest House, 570 Commercial Street, and at St. Mary of the Harbor, 517 Commercial Street. To organize a  private Watch Parties contact jay@thecompact.org.

The Provincetown Community Compact, established in 1993, is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. It is a community-building, philanthropic organization whose mission is to advance the health and cultural well being of the Outer Cape - its people, the economy and the natural and built environment. It honors the ancestral lands of the Wampanoag Nation that we inhabit.