The woman behind the world’s most famous party for queer women is stepping down—and she’s hoping another producer will step up to keep the festival alive.
This September, Mariah Hanson will produce her final edition of Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend (September 24 to 28, 2025), the world’s largest and longest-running music festival for queer women, nonbinary folks and allies.
Hanson founded the festival, popularly known as The Dinah, in Palm Springs, California, in 1991, at a time when the U.S. LGBTQ2S+ movement was still focused on getting people to come out of the closet. The party was about creating a safe space for queer women to not simply be out, but to have a proud, carefree experience with their own kind.
“It’s our own world for five days, where you get to be and feel as authentic and liberated and joyful as you’re capable of,” Hanson told Pink Ticket Travel in an interview. “We live in a very complicated world, and even within our own community, we have challenges with embracing our own diversity, yet at The Dinah, it all goes away and just melts into this oozing, glorious fun fest.”
Back in the 1980s, Hanson was a player in the California party scene, founding Club Skirts in 1988 as a club night for queer women in the San Francisco/Bay Area. She soon wanted to do something more ambitious. The name of The Dinah is a reference to the late Dinah Shore, an American actor, singer and TV personality who lent her name to a women’s golf tournament in Palm Springs, which was, back in the 1970s, thought to attract many lesbian players. Although The Dinah has grassroots origins, it quickly became known for its polished production. It was glamorous when other lesbian-oriented events were more earnest and granola. The first event was a one-night party at the Palm Springs Art Museum. It sold out.
Over its 34-year history, The Dinah has grown to be a five-day festival with live music, pool parties, celebrity appearances and about 15,000 attendees. Hanson has often been able to sign up-and-coming women and nonbinary artists before they break big, which has sometimes put her into competition for talent with Coachella, the hipster-driven music festival held each spring just down the valley. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Lizzo, Bebe Rexha, Doechii, Macy Gray, Meghan Trainor, Princess Nokia and Iniko have performed at The Dinah. LGBTQ2S+ Hollywood types like Patricia Rae, Lea Delaria, Gina Yashere, Page Hurwitw, Jill Bennet and Wanda Sykes have also walked The Dinah’s red carpet.
One of Hanson’s special memories was when Macy Gray was booked to perform in 2021. It was show time, but Gray was not coming on stage, telling staff she needed more time. Hanson went backstage and talked to her, telling Gray to take the time she needed. Five minutes later, Gray started the show, and then unexpectedly invited Hanson out on stage with her. “Then she sang me this song. That’s probably my favourite Dinah.”
Although the event has always been focused on queer women, it never barred men, and as definitions in the community evolved, it actively welcomed trans and nonbinary attendees. While Hanson as a younger woman considered The Dinah to be pretty much a bacchanal, she believes it’s evolved to become much more meaningful.
“It was probably me that changed over the years. I went through a period where I would give the people I was hiring my spiel, which was that it looks like a big party, but it’s actually a movement, that we’re changing the world a little bit for five days,” says Hanson. “That sounds super ‘woo,’ but for some reason it’s working. So I’ll just sound ‘woo.’”
Hanson said she has been thinking for a few years about leaving the business. This year her gut told her it was time to make the break. It was more about her own headspace rather than politics or any particular frustration. “When I was younger I loved stress. I was like, ‘Give me a stress milkshake.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is going to kill me.’”
Since she has let the word out that she’s exiting as lead producer, Hanson has received several proposals from parties who are interested in taking over the business, which has a team of 35 mostly seasonal staff, including six managers. Hanson is still evaluating the offers. “I’ve read some really amazing letters that make me say, ‘Wow, this is a good contender.’ So we’ll see.” Hanson says she’s willing to stay on as a consultant to help with continuity, if that’s what the new owners want, but is hoping that new leadership will also come with new ideas on how to grow and evolve the festival.
What they’re calling “The Dinah’s Grand Finale” this September will feature the return of actors Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey from the cult lesbian TV series The L Word, a show that spread word of The Dinah far beyond California when several episodes featured the party. For her final Dinah, Hanson is promising chart-topping artists and iconic queer talent, though the lineup has not yet been announced.
As for her own future, Hanson says she wants to write a book and perhaps launch a podcast. There’s also gardening. “When you run an event like this, it’s like having a full-time mistress. You don’t have any time to yourself, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Read more about Mariah Hanson and her vision for The Dinah is our 2023 interview with her.
