With a flourish of handbells and calls of “Oyez!” or “Hear ye!” town criers from as far away as Ontario and Maryland did their best to wow the crowd Monday, as Provincetown played host, for the first time, to an international competition of town criers.
Town criers once delivered a community’s most important news. Modern town criers are largely ceremonial, designated by a municipality, museum, civic group, or chamber of commerce.
Some speak to tourists or represent their town at public events. And some — like the 10 competitors (and one crier-turned-judge from England) who made their way to Provincetown — travel to compete in the art of the unamplified voice.
They gathered in period costumes at Bas-Relief Park but quickly moved into Town Hall to get out of the rain.
As host, Provincetown Town Crier Daniel Gómez Llata could not compete, but he gave the opening cries, against which the others would be judged.
“Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!” he began, using the traditional call. “At the tip of Cape Cod, formed by a glacier, a narrow spit of sand, as far as one can go on Route 6 — and not just geographically…”
Many of the cries contained small punchlines or humorous content. Each town crier performed two pieces: one proclaiming the virtues of their home community, and one describing a historical Provincetown news event.
The only competitor from eastern Massachusetts, Eric Goddard of Nantucket, opened with a joke.
“There once was a man from Nantucket,” he said, drawing a roar of laughter. But then he continued, “who sailed the seas in search of spoil. He toiled and boiled to fill the cooper’s craft.”
U.S. competitors are members of the American Guild of Town Criers, which was founded in 1997.
Ben Fiore-Walker serves as town crier in Alexandria, Virginia. In an interview before the contest, he talked about his role — leading parades, lighting the Christmas tree, and welcoming people for special events. He said he explains to children what a town crier is — and that despite his tricorne hat, he’s not a pirate.
“It's just great,” he said. “I love being an ambassador for the city. I love being able to give people, when they’re coming in — tourists — an interesting experience.”
Kathy-Ann Becker, the first modern town crier to serve the town of Wendell, Massachusetts, competed for the first time.
In the end, highest honors went to David Vollick of Burlington, Ontario, as the overall winner. Stephen Findlay of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, came in second place, and Jim Stewart of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, in third. Tim Yuskaitis of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, was named the best American crier.
They topped off the day with — what else? — a lobster dinner on the Provincetown waterfront.
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