On a summer evening in 1976, a Fire Island resident was denied service at a restaurant in the Fire Island Pines community. Why? He was dressed in drag. On July 4, still bristling from this injustice, a group of local drag queens decided the incident had to be answered. Led by Panzi (Thom Hansen), the reigning Homecoming Queen of Cherry Grove, the group traveled by water taxi to the Blue Whale, the scene of the crime. There, with much drama and showmanship, Panzi blessed the harbor, spawning an annual tradition that continues to this day, almost 50 years on. Phillip Gutman photographed the “Invasion of the Pines” in 2017 and 2018, documenting this much-celebrated ritual in the queer community and beyond. —Paulina Prosnitz