The Provincetown Community Compact presents the 38th Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla fundraiser set for Saturday, September 6, 2025

Now in its 38th year, the legendary Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact, is scheduled for Saturday, September 6, 2025 at Johnson Street Beach on Provincetown Harbor, and at Great Pond in Wellfleet. For information and registration, go to swim4life.org

This post-Labor Day fundraiser, which has raised $7M for AIDS, women's health and the community since 1988, invites swimmers, volunteers, kayakers, boaters and the public to join this quintessential Provincetown tradition. The 2025 Swim artwork, Four Moons, was created by artist Paul Resika, a landscape and figurative painter represented by Berta Walker Gallery.

Compact Director and artist Jay Critchley states, “The Swim activates and honors the healing waters of the harbor and its bounty to the community. Provincetown is a destination for those seeking compassion, joy and safety in a tumultuous time. Welcome to our shores!”

Beneficiaries of this year’s event include: AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC), Helping Our Women (HOW), Outer Cape Health Services, Provincetown Rescue Squad Association, Soup Kitchen in Provincetown (SKIP), Provincetown Schools, The Compact Community Fund, Accessible Provincetown, West End Racing Club, Cape Cod Children’s Place, Native Land Conservancy, Lily House and Summer of Sass.

Registration is available online and open until Swim day at Johnson Street Beach, also the location of the finish line for the 1.2-mile East End shoreline swim route that starts at the beach at Snail Road. The successful Half-Mile Swim launched last year will start at Atkins Lane. In line with the tide cycle, the event will start at 11:00 am, with transport to the Swim start provided by the Funk Bus. The famous Mermaid Brunch will be catered by longtime event sponsor, Far Land Provisions, with music by Provincetown’s own, Zoe Lewis.

A freshwater Swim will be held at Great Pond Swim in Wellfleet the morning of the harbor event and is limited to fifty swimmers. Swimmers across the country who are unable to join us on the Cape are invited to swim virtually by Swimming In Place. During the 2020 pandemic, swimmers, bikers and paddlers participated and raised pledges in twenty-six states.

Business sponsors of the event to date include: lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort & Beach Club, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Land’s End Foundation, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Cape Air, Bay State Cruise, Funk Bus, Berta Walker Gallery, Art’s Dune Tours, WOMR 92.1, Coyote Kayaks, Cranberry Square Dermatology, The Palette Fund, Premier Real Estate, Provincetown Part-time Resident Taxpayers Association, M. A. Frazier Disposal, Masthead Resort and Cottages, Harbor Dental Associates, Gibson Sotheby’s Realty, Watermark Inn, Shor Home, Linchris, Gibson Sotheby’s Realty and support from the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

The Provincetown Community Compact is a non-profit organization established in 1993 to nurture the Provincetown and Outer Cape community. Its mission is to enhance the well-being of the community through projects that incorporate the arts, the environment and the economy. It has birthed nine non-profits such as the Provincetown International Film Festival, the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, Provincetown Commons, Summer of Sass, Wellfleet Porchfest, Tim McCarthy Human Rights Champion Fund and Pilgrim Bark Park. The results position The Compact as an economic generator.

Along with the Swim for Life, Compact projects include: the Think-ubator, Prayer Ribbons, Underrepresented Communities and dune shack residencies in the Cape Cod National Seashore