| Since 1976, Cherry Grove’s big Fourth of July event has been the Grove Invasion of the Pines. During the nation’s Bicentennial year, late Pines entrepreneur John Whyte refused service to the late Teri Warren, who came to his restaurant in drag. A dozen Grove crossdressers, male and female went back to avenge the slight, were served at Whyte’s establishment after all, and declared victory over the colony to the east. Since then, a boatload or two of hundreds of drag queens, led by Invasion Founder Thom “Panzi” Hansen, Cherry Grove Homecoming Queen 1976 and 1977, and assisted by the current Homecoming Queen, has headed for the Pines on Independence Day to commemorate that first Invasion, 44 years ago.
2020, a year so different in so many ways, did not want for its Invasion, albeit scaled down to not many more than participated in that first Invasion. Led by Panzi, with Homecoming Queen 2020 Ikea and attendants Lute and Fisk and spouse Chris, we invaded the Pines, all of us appropriately masked for safety during this Covid-19 pandemic, including additional past Homecoming Queens Philomena, Margo, Urban Sprawl, Rose Levine—another veteran of the first Invasion, and Victoria Falls, additional Homecoming Queen 2020 candidates Davida Jones and Levonia Jenkins, singer Porsche, the Cherry Sisters, the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association’s Hal Hayes, and the media. In the Pines, we were greeted by Robin Byrd and, at the Blue Whale, on the site where Invasion began, by PJ McAteer and company.
We returned to the Grove to be hailed by Cherry’s for a successful and memorable Invasion 2020.
- photo credit & captions: all photos by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Panzi, ready for a safe Invasion
Homecoming Queen 2020 Ikea
Hal Hayes in the Grove
Lute & Fisk
Lute, Ikea & FIsk
Lute, Chris, Ikea & Fisk
Ikea & Chris
Rose Levine & friends
Rose, Michael & friends
Cherry Sisters
Panzi on the air
Panzi
Sugar B. Real
Margo
Urban Sprawl
Philomena
Levonia Jenkins & her men
Porsche & Gatorade
Petra
Davida Jones in the Grove Community House
Urban Sprawl & Hector
Lute, Chris, Ikea & Fisk
Ikea & Panzi
Chirs, Lute, Ikea & Fisk
heading for Cherry Grove dock
Homecoming Queen 2020 Ikea
Panzi & Ikea
heading for the Invasion boat
on the Invasion boat
Homecoming Queen 2019 Victoria Falls
Panzi on the Invasion boat
Michael, Rose, Margo & Urban Sprawl
Margo & Porsche
Panzi on the Invasion boat
on the Invasion boat
Pines flotilla
on the Invasion boat
a welcome from the Pines
a welcome from the Blue Whale
Rose, Michael, Hal Hayes & Porsche at the Blue Whale
Hal Hayes at the Blue Whale
Cherry Sisters at the Blue Whale
Lady Long Legs at the Blue Whale
Ikea & Chris at the Blue Whale
Victoria Falls at the Blue Whale
Panzi at the Blue Whale
Lady Long Legs
Panzi, Chris & Ikea
Philomena in the Pines
PJ McAteer & the Blue Whale
leaving the Pines
in the Pines Harbor
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