No 'Ring Them Bells' in Ptown This Summer — Town Crier Kenneth Lonergan Retires
He won't be ringing those bells any longer.
"Kenneth Lonergan, Provincetown's beloved town crier, announced his retirement last fall, after 13 years of bell-ringing and proclamation-making," reported the Provincetown Independent last September. "The spirited and affable Lonergan, 74, a retired teacher and actor, is known for coining the phrase 'All is well in Provincetown, because you're here!'"
Lonergan is the latest in a long-line of town criers in the resort town, which famously dates back to the 1880s with George Washington Ready, who, the Independent notes, "became famous after claiming in 1886 to have seen an enormous sea serpent, 300 feet long, with six eyes 'the size of dinner plates,' at Herring Cove Beach. He swore in an affidavit, 'I was not unduly excited by liquor or otherwise.'"
The town crier was far more crucial to town life in the 19th century, often being the source of vital news to the community with their pronouncements. The last Ptown town crier who performed that function was Walter T. "Hoppy" Smith, "rather insensitively nicknamed for a disability," added the Independent. "Hoppy was the last 'real' crier, that is, one whose job is to disseminate information, not just serve as a tourist attraction."
After a break of some years, the town crier returned as a theatrical personality dressed in Puritan garb. Among them was the controversial Napoleon E. "Gene" Poyant, "who lost the job after purportedly telling a tourist that "homosexuals and the devil had taken over a local church," according to a 1987 New York Times article."
Lonergin reached out to the town in 2007 and was hired after he was seen barking for a show called "The Three Marys." With the help of a seamstress, he came with a historical accurate costume, making his debut at a 2007 centennial of President Teddy Roosevelt laying the Pilgrim Monument cornerstone. "Since then, Lonergan has mastered the act of crying," wrote the Independent. "He is a fount of historical knowledge, and does renditions of 'You're a Grand Old Flag,' 'Yankee Doodle' and other show tunes. Lonergan claims that John Waters once said, 'I've known many criers, and you're the first to do Broadway.' Indeed, he did a cover of Liza With a Z's 'Ring Them Bells' at the 2010 Carnival parade, eternalized on YouTube."
Lonergin was the subject of the short film "Because You're Here" that can be seen below:
Radu Luca, executive director of the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce, told the Provincetown Independent last September that Lonergan's shoes will be really big shoes to fill and no successor will be appointed this year. The group is working on a "comprehensive job description," drawing on sources from the Provincetown History Project. "We're not ruling out some sort of audition or contest," Luca said.