It’s hard not to love autumn in Rehoboth Beach! It’s festival season! We’ve got Jazz Fest, Film Fest, Sea Witch, and course, the practically official holiday of the gay nation, Halloween. This year, Murray and I have been invited to a “Fangs and Fairies” Halloween Party: the perfect time to break out the tutus and fairy wings hanging in our attic! October 16-19, the Rehoboth Beach Autumn Jazz Festival will bring music all over town. For a list of what’s happening at local clubs and restaurants, check out “Jazz by the Hour” on page 79. October 24-26 is the 25th Annual Sea Witch Festival with tons of activities and events for all ages. Highlights include the Costume Parade in downtown Rehoboth on Saturday, October 25, and the Costumed Dog Parade on the Boardwalk on Sunday, October 26.
From its start back in 1998, CAMP Rehoboth has been a sponsor of the annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival. Over the years the Film Festival has always made sure that LGBT films were well represented in its excellent line-up of feature, short, and documentary films, and this year is no exception. Film screenings begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 5, and continue through Sunday, November 9. This year, Festival films will be screened at both the Movies at Midway and at the Cape Henlopen High School. For more information visit their website at rehobothfilm.com. Don’t miss our annual Letters from CAMP Rehoboth LGBT Guide to the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival in this issue.
The recent Well-Strung performance at the Rehoboth Convention Center was a huge hit. The packed house was thrilled with the performance and left only wanting more of the talented singing string quartet. In my introduction that night, I thanked all the sponsors who made the event possible, but forgot to mention our dear friends and Annual Sponsor Signarama. Gracious, as always, Gwen and Katie assured me the omission didn’t matter, but it does to us! Thank you Signarama for all you do for us and for the people of this community! A final thanks to our presenting sponsors: Stephen Manos and Dos Locos; our Annual Sponsors: Sea Bova Associates, Move2Rehoboth.com—Karen Gustafson, and Outlet Liquors; and to our event sponsors: Horst Boehlendorf, and Charlie Lee. Finally, a very special thank-you to Steve Hoult—chair of the event—for his tireless work putting it all together—even as he faced the loss of his father.
Photographer Barbara Proud will be at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center on Saturday, October 18 from 3-5 p.m., signing copies of her new book First Comes Love—Portraits of Enduring LGBTQ Relationships. The book is the culmination of a documentary project exploring long term, same sex relationships. Barbara photographed my husband Murray and me in front of CAMP Rehoboth a few years ago, and we have watched with interest as this book became a reality. More information on the First Comes Love Project, and the book, is available at firstcomeslove.org. The reception and book signing on the 18th is open to all. Stop by for a glass of wine and help celebrate Barbara’s amazing accomplishment. Her author’s credit on the front of the book, by the way, is simply “B. Proud.” Perfect, right? And we are! (See In Brief for more.)
Now that our summer publishing schedule has ended, and we’re back to publishing Letters only once a month, we have to cram a lot of information into our calendars to cover our extended time period. Be sure and check out our CAMP Dates column and Doug Yetter’s CAMP Arts column for information on what’s happening in the Rehoboth area in the coming weeks. Looking ahead: World AIDS Day is December 1, Starburst Gayla is New Year’s Eve—and already we’re looking forward to the CAMP Chorus Concert in February, and to celebrating CAMP Rehoboth’s 25th Anniversary in 2015!