Did you know that Provincetown is home to the international town crier competition? What’s worth knowing.

City criers, the heroes of Hear Ye’s breaking news, will gather in Provincetown on October 7 for an event that is sure to be loud, colorful and include a lot of bell ringing.

The Provincetown Town Crier Competition will feature criers from the US, Canada and the UK competing in categories including projection, clarity and all-important entry. As stated in the announcement, the event organizers also guarantee that “participants will be elegantly dressed.”

And while entertaining and informative theater performances will be the order of the day, Provincetown Town actor Daniel Gómez Llata ​​said participants are committed to their craft.

“Even though it will be frivolous and silly, it is a serious art form for them,” he said.

The competition rules are also quite a serious matter. In the behavior category, “as representatives of their township or organization, Criers are expected to perform the Town Crier role with high confidence, clear movements and a memorable overall image.”

In the Projection and Call Clarity category, points may be deducted for vocal crackles.

Gómez Llata ​​assured the reporter that the participants’ costumes would be memorable, with special emphasis on retro clothing. A sparkly outfit is a key crowd-pleaser, and ringing a loud bell also helps.

“Your job as the town crier is to get attention, to get people to come closer and pay attention,” he said.

In the old days, paying attention to the town crier was an important way of life.

“For almost all of human history, the unamplified human voice has been the primary source of important information,” says the American Guild of Town Criers. “In many European cities, an educated person was appointed to announce the news and inform residents about the latest rules and regulations. Many early colonial towns also used Town Criers to make public announcements.”

City carriers also frequently fly into Provincetown.

“From the 19th century to the early 20th century, when radio was in its infancy, Provincetown had an official town crier,” according to the historic Building Provincetown website, “a herald whose function was to disseminate news as well as commercial announcements of interest to residents.”

Building Provincetown recognizes George Washington Ready as “certainly the most famous in this line, remembered to this day for his story of spying a 300-foot, six-eyed sea serpent in Herring Cove one morning in 1886.”

In this must-hear moment of the competition, Gómez Llata ​​plans to recreate Ready’s scream, including the part where Ready assures the audience that he was not intoxicated when he observed the snake.

This is usually the part of the story where we provide the time, date and location of the event. But wouldn’t it be more fun if we put on a brilliant costume, rang the bell and announced:

“Hear Ye, Hear Ye: The Provincetown Town Crier Competition will be held on Monday, October 7 at 10 a.m. at Bas Relief Park in Provincetown (106 Bradford St.). If it rains, the event will be held in the City Hall Auditorium across the street.”

Eric Williams writes about various ways to enjoy the Cape, weather, wildlife and other topics. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @capecast.

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This article originally appeared on the Cape Cod Times: Things to do in Cape Cod: Provincetown Town Screaming Tournament