Michael Davis
Mariah Hanson
“It’s simple. Lesbians and queer women like golf,” says Mariah Hanson, who in 1991 created The Dinah, arguably the largest and most famous lesbian block party/musical festival in the world. “A lot of women were coming to watch (the Dinah Shore golf tournament) and it was the perfect environment to throw a party. A couple people did that before I got here, but I took a different approach and apparently it worked.”
Admittedly working from a combination of youth, hubris, and passion, Hanson convinced the Palm Springs Art Museum to host her party and a couple hotels to block out all their rooms for the couple thousand gay women who attended the first year. She says the result was a “world within a world” where women felt safe, inclusive, and free to party with abandon. What is even more extraordinary is the consistent evolution of the event. It’s not just that it’s become a bigger and more famous party; it’s become one of the most important musical venues for new and emerging talent, particularly queer musicians. Hanson says that when she began to shift the focus of the party to musical performance, she would have to call music agents’ secretaries five or six times and beg to get through to them. “Now they send me lists of who I should (book)…because we have helped launch careers.”
First, there was the Pussycat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger, then came a succession of great talent over the years, including Pat Benatar, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, The Indigo Girls, Salt N Pepa, Ke$sha, Taryn Manning, Black Box, and Macy Gray. 2022 will feature Fletcher, Taylor Dayne, Haviah Mighty, Zolita, Cassidy King, IV4, Siena Liggins, and Riela. “I think what’s important is that not everybody comes to the Dinah, but people are watching it from all over the world. It’s a bucket list event. It’s something that members of the queer women community dream about coming to. So, when we announce our lineup, they start listening to that music. And that’s become the power of the Dinah.”
Hanson got her start as a promoter throwing legendary parties at her alma mater, Sonoma State University (She still lives in Sonoma). They were so legendary that on-campus parties were banned for nearly a generation, a fact of which Hanson is quite proud. She cut her pro chops in San Francisco before launching the Dinah, and for several years held a “mini-Dinah” in No Cal called the Monterey Women’s Festival.
When she first started the Dinah in Palm Springs, her relationships with the Dinah Shore golf tournament were somewhat strained and she admits “I used to get glared at by one of the gals who ran the local LPGA tournament in Palm Springs,” she laughs. But she says that things started changing six or seven years ago as numbers at the golf tournament dropped. “They (the tournament) started reaching out to me to see if we could work together and I thought that was great because there’s so many ways to get to Rome.”
Hanson was surprised and disappointed when LPGA officials announced this year that the tournament would no longer be held in Palm Springs. Still, she’s grateful to be associated with the tournament the late actress created. “Dinah Shore is an icon for all women. She lent her name to women’s sports at a time when female golfers were earning less than the men. She really fought for the equality of women in sports. I have so much respect for her legacy. It’s been an honor to have her name on our event…which she never said we had to take down.”
