Fire Island Invasion 2023

Fire Island Invasion 2023

The Fire Island Invasion is a recreation and celebration of the very first Fire Island Invasion that took place in the Summer of 1976.

• Fire Island Villas and hotels fill up almost a year in advance. Search for one now and reserve!

The Event

• On the afternoon of July 4 each year, drag queens from both Cherry Grove and the Pines gather at the Ice Palace Bar at the Cherry Grove Hotel in Cherry Grove.
• After parading through the street of Cherry Grove, they board a chartered ferry boat and sail to the Pines Harbor, where they are greeted by thousands of cheering residents and visitors.

Other Parties

• LOVE BOAT! @Cherry’s On the Bay CG
  The only place you will find Music Bingo on Fire Island is at Cherry’s on the Bay! Come spend a couple of hours every Friday afternoon at 4. It’s a mashup of Name That Tune and BINGO.
• DWorld Fire Island Underwear Party
  Fridays – 10:30pm to 02:00am @Ice Palace Resort Cherry Grove
• Wolfpup Presents Jockstrap Fridays
  Fridays – 10:30pm to 03:00am  @The Pavilion, Fire Island Pines

History of the event

• During the summer of 1976, a restaurant in Fire Island Pines, New York, denied entry to a visitor in drag named Terry Warren.
• Fire Island Pines is a beach community on Fire Island east of New York City with a gay majority population that was at the time more affluent and conservative than the population of nearby Cherry Grove.
• When Warren’s friends in Cherry Grove heard what had happened, they too dressed up in drag, and, on July 4, 1976, with Cherry Grove’s 1976 Homecoming Queen Thom Hansen (aka Panzi) in the lead, sailed to the Pines by water taxi.
• The boatload of drag queens that stormed into the Pines that day—to a surprised but exuberant welcome—was the first “invasion,” an event now repeated each year.

Getting to & Getting around Gay Fire Island

• Fire Island is a place where time has stood still to a certain extent due to the fact there are no cars on the island. It retains a small town ambiance, where visitors walk or ride a bicycle and locals greet both each other and new arrivals.
• Ocean Beach is the island’s most populous village and is home to its biggest downtown, making it the unofficial capital of Fire Island that’s also among the area’s most popular destinations for visitors.
• About four miles east of Ocean Beach are these two LGBT-centric communities neighboring one another, locally known as The Pines and The Grove, which together form a gay mecca of sorts.
• While both communities only have boardwalks as sidewalks, The Grove (more Lesbian Friendly) is only about a ½-mile- long while The Pines stretches nearly a full mile. The Pines (Gay Guys) is also home to the majority of the private pools on the island.
• Besides its hopping nightlife at Cherry’s, The Ice Palace and elsewhere, The Grove is home to one of only two oceanfront restaurants on Fire Island—The Sandcastle at The Ocean. Revelers in The Pines bounce between Sip ‘N Twirl, the Blue Whale and the Pavilion.

Check out our insider guide to gay Fire Island.