They call themselves “lucky.” And they use that word a lot.

“We actually could have missed out on all of this,” says Brian Clark, gesturing toward the town beyond his Cherry Grove home and incredulous that he and Troy once seriously considered buying a place in Provincetown.  “We can’t even imagine how much we’d have missed. We feel so blessed to get to be a part of what has transpired here in this historic and really fun town.  This place has offered gays and lesbians a safe haven for so long and all those who have made it what it is today. What great luck that we ‘happened’ into this wonderful place!”

And for those past ten years since they bought and began fixing up “Tudorville” on Sea Walk, Troy Files and Brian Clark have missed very little. They’ve plunged themselves into Cherry Grove life, and done more in ten short years than many of us have in decades. 

Here’s just a taste:  separately or together they’ve been on or still participate in the   Dune Fund board, Arts Project board, Archive Committee, House Blessings, Toga Teas, Casinos, Flea Markets, Garden Club/Garden Tours, Walk Captains, SOCH Fundraisers, Pride Parades, Sage Events, Invasions -- 

-- and of course, Homecoming Queens!  In 2010 Troy won as Beach DeBree (who could forget her paint-chip dress?) and the next year Brian followed on as YaNeeda Dunes (remember her spray-foam wig?) They LOVED those two years attending nearly everything that had need for a possible wave, ribbon cutting, or ‘walk on.’  And did we mention that they volunteer for literally everything and can mostly be found in the Community House setting up, breaking down, selling tickets, and spreading the word for the Arts Project, often in costume, or playing Bingo, Jazz-a-sizing with Doreen, saluting the sun with Edrie, Dining with the Divas, or just having a ball attending a show or community event.

  But having a lot on their plate is just who they are. Between them both they’ve studied mouse genetics in a research lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (Brian), got a BA in marketing at the University of Florida, Go Gators!!! (Troy), earned a master’s in social work at NYU (Brian), been a sales rep for Frito-Lay (Troy) , counseled adolescents in an outpatient clinic in the Lower East Side (Brian), been a flight attendant at PEOPLExpress Airline for 9 years (Troy), supervised a program that counseled adults, adolescents and children dealing with mental health and addiction issues for 17 years (Brian), run an antiques store for 18 years on the Lower East Side/Brooklyn (Troy), bought and renovated a complete brownstone in Park Slope in 2000 (both), completed a  Psychoanalytic Certification Program and now runs a private practice in Brooklyn (Brian),  moved back to Brian’s hometown in New City to care for his aging mother (both). 

Are you out of breath yet?

They met in NYC in 1986. “I remember meeting Troy like it was yesterday,” says Brian. “He was standing there with this big smile.” Troy says: “It was supposed to be a fix up and I was excited a single guy was coming.”  Something about it made them both feel that this was very right!  They both say it was love at first sight and now they’re heading towards 30 years together. 

Their passion for gay rights included several Marches on Washington, organizing parties to raise funds for Lambda Legal Defense, NYC rallies for Marriage Equality and even a protest effort to obtain marriage license at city hall.  (They were legally married four years ago with their family present once it became legal in NYS).

Brian is close with his four siblings and grew up in New City in a pretty traditional middle class family. His dad was a pension consultant at Marsh and McLennan and his mom a stayed at home with the kids until she went back to work at the local library for 26 years. Brian says he is grateful that he was able to share beautiful Cherry Grove with both parents in their later years.  His mom loved meeting everyone, going to the beach; attended Bingo at the Community House a few times, a few Kentucky Derbies at Island Breeze and even went to see a Charity Show at Cherry’s when she was 90.

Troy is a Florida boy, but born on a Marine camp (Lejeune) in North Carolina, and raised with his younger sister in Bradenton. His dad was a pharmaceutical salesman and his stay-at-home Mom was involved in everything the kids did, but ultimately worked in the family’s promotional business. Lu and Betty Files love to come up to Cherry Grove twice a season to visit, fish, hunt for sea glass and work the APCG Flea Market. Betty even did a duet of “Rum-n-Coca- Cola” with Porsche last year.

The only drag the guys ever did before Cherry Grove was for Lambda Legal Defense benefits and in the Village Halloween Parade where once Troy was Miss Florida and Brian was Miss New York.  

For their first Invasion, they went with a few Brooklyn friends as “White Trash,” which is where they got their drag names.  Their drag costumes’ beauty, and elegance, however, they owe to Edgar, James, Urban, and Mel – “our drag parents,” says Troy.

As renters, they came here in the late 80s and 90s but say they never really experienced what the community was like until they began getting involved in town and working on their house. Troy credits Joanne Tavis for getting him, and later Brian, involved in the Arts Project.

 “We’ve come to understand what being here and being gay really means to us,” they say. “It becomes part of what and who you are -- that here in Cherry Grove being gay is a really valued part of the Self, it means something important and yet here it becomes just one ‘loved’ part of who one is. We both feel very grateful.  Cherry Grove is such a beautiful place with a truly amazing community of people who also like to have a lot of fun. How lucky can you get?”

They think they’re lucky?  We think the luck is ours for having Brian and Troy here with us. Many thanks.