Youth movement

PROVINCETOWN-- Its year-round population declining and its economy sagging like a wet beach bag, Provincetown has a new worry: It's getting old.

With its colorful art galleries and Bohemian personalities, Provincetown has long been a mecca for gay travelers. But town officials worry that its population is graying and that it needs younger visitors and their disposable incomes to pump up the local economy.

In the last year, the Provincetown tourism office has begun running flashy ads in gay and lesbian magazines that cater to readers under 40, such as Instinct, Genre, Curve, 411 Magazine, and Out Traveler. It has also advertised in more traditional gay- friendly publications such as the Boston Phoenix.

One ad shows one fresh-faced young man sporting a yellow and purple Mohawk and a coy grin. Another shows two newlyweds, identified as Donna and Lora, waving and smiling from the back of a car.

''Provincetown Like Nowhere Else," boast the ads.

''We are pulling out all the stops," said Bill Schneider, the town's tourism director. ''What we are doing is showing people that this is a place for people who are in-the-know and adventuresome."

Schneider said the town is also hoping to lure ecotourists, travelers who are not gay, group tours, and art enthusiasts, but is mostly targeting the gay community, who arrive every summer to pack the beachside bars, cybercafes, and ice cream shops that dot Commercial Street.

Schneider hopes that younger tourists will fall so much in love with the town in summer that they will want to move there or at least bring friends on their next visit. ''We want to introduce a lot of people who haven't heard of Provincetown to one of the most beautiful towns that exist," he said.

It might be a tough sell.

Matthew Williams, 23, just moved to Provincetown this winter, after spending the past four summers flirting with the help at the bars along Commercial Street. Already, he regrets it.

''Everyone here is 50," he said yesterday at the empty West End Salon where he cuts hair. ''This is the most boring winter I have ever had."

Provincetown's economic woes began when its full-time residents began leaving the coastal town in search of less expensive sandy pastures 10 years ago, said Town Manager Keith Bergman.

Provincetown is the only Cape Cod town where the number of year-round housing units declined between 1990 and 2000, according to the US Census. In that time, 324 year-round housing units were converted to seasonal spaces, a 13.6 percent decrease in year-round housing that resulted in fewer residents in town during the off-season.

Brenda Dean, a 58-year-old real estate agent, said many of her friends moved to Florida because they wanted to get away from the harsh New England winters and could no longer afford the soaring real estate prices in Provincetown, where even modest houses begin at $500,000.

''If we weren't doing real estate, we would have left, as well," Dean said of herself and her partner. ''It has come to the point where people are starting to call Fort Lauderdale 'Provincetown South."'

With fewer customers to cater to, more restaurants and shop owners began hanging ''closed for the season" signs on their doors from October to March. Taxes generated by hotel and parking revenue fell by 5 percent between 2002 and 2004, a loss of nearly $100,000, according to town statistics.

The residents who did stay in town are older than the young consumers that some bar and clothing shop owners hope to lure.

Less than 27 percent of the town's residents are younger than 34, whereas statewide, 48 percent of the population is under 34.

There are only 140 local students in the Provincetown School District this year, which also draws from other towns in the area. Provincetown High School, which decades ago had a well-regarded football team, now has only 135 students enrolled at the school, which serves grades 7 to 12. Townspeople say that when those students finish high school and start work, there is little opportunity beyond tourism.

Officials know the situation is dire: Provincetown needs more young people to warm the booths at the local pubs all year long.

In hopes of buffing the town's image, town officials have started courting a Hollywood producer, who recently pitched a reality television show set in Provincetown and potentially to be aired on Logo, a new gay-focused station operated by MTV Networks.

The show, titled ''P-Town," would portray the lives of a small group of young residents during the summertime, when Provincetown's population skyrockets from 3,000 to nearly 60,000 in August.

''Essentially we are seeing our tourism economy doesn't work on automatic any more," said Keith Bergman, town manager. ''We have very cool seniors in Provincetown, but the baby boomers are getting up there."

On a chilly day this week, as seagulls glided over snow-covered shores, Provincetown seemed a ghost town, with only about a few dozen people on the streets around lunchtime.

Napi VanDereck, 75, who owns Napi's Restaurant and was born in town, said Provincetown has to do something dramatic if it hopes to attract more visitors.

''Sometimes we are all just sitting around doing nothing," he said. ''There's really nothing for people to do here."