Mascara, Mirth and Mayhem: Independence Day on Fire Island is an exuberant photographic document that celebrates four decades of an event known as “the Invasion of the Pines” by members of the neighboring LGBT community of Cherry Grove. Initially planned to shock their staid neighbors and protest their snobbery, this queenly invasion on every July 4 th, is a moment on Fire Island equal to Stonewall in Greenwich Village. It has grown in size and extravagance each year to become a joyful revelry of creative cross-dressing and a true independence day party.
The history of the original protest Invasion, along with selected interviews of participants, then and now, augment Susan Kravitz’s photographs of this elaborately theatrical event taken over a period of 30 years.