The Dinah Shores Up 25 Years of Lesbian Festivities

Club Skirts: The Dinah descended on the southern California desert over Easter weekend 2015, marking the celebration's 25th anniversary. With about 15,000 attendees, the annual festival is considered one of the biggest lesbian events in the world. This year's pool parties, concerts and mega dance nights drew ladies from as far away as Australia, Great Britain, Brazil, and beyond-all of them fully charged for flirting under the wide-open Palm Springs skies.

Musically Inclined

The 2015 lineup brought to the stage new and emerging performers that packed the Palm Springs Convention Center. Headliner Meghan Trainor dazzled the ballroom Saturday night with her hits "All About That Bass" and "Lips Are Movin." Between costume changes, Trainor pulled onto the stage Dinah Palm Springs producer Mariah Hanson, calling her "the queen" as she placed a tiara on her head. The pop singer went on to tease her hooting fans, ultimately proclaiming, "You are the sluttiest crowd I've ever been in front of!"

Trainor was the main attraction kicking off the weekend's famous black party, where emerging artist BeBe Rexha then lit up the house with her hit "I Can't Stop Drinking About You."

Songstress Christina Perri put her musical prowess on display at Friday's white party, lulling the ivory-clad crowd with "A Thousand Hearts," an instant hit since its debut as part of the "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" soundtrack.

Music has long been a core attraction for Dinah lovers, with main-stage concerts by night, and live poolside performances by day. Heating up the bathing beauties at the Hilton Palm Springs were high-energy shows by Holychild, Crystal Waters, and Rose Royce. Whitney Day, Mary Mac, Asha, Citizen Jane, Lisa Pitman, and other world-class DJs kept beats thumping at the poolside "Battle of the DJs" and the nightly events.

Glitz and Laughter

The weekend bash's opening night kicked off April 2nd with the Dinah Comedy Night, where host Suzanne Westenhoefer held court with funny ladies Dana Goldberg, Gloria Bigelow, and Dinah Leffert.

"[The Dinah] gives lesbians a place where they can just play. There are so many body types, so many colors, and just a good feeling all around," says the hilarious Goldberg, who added a few words of advice for first-timers: "Make sure if you're in a relationship you're very secure. And bring hand sanitizer, because there's a lot of people touching a lot of things this weekend."

The official opening party took over Palm Springs hotspot Zelda's Nightclub, with sweetheart Olivia Somerlyn performing live. From there the weekend shifted into high gear with the full onslaught of bikinis, brews and babes.

Three days of pool parties saw lesbians (and a few guys) sporting more tattoos than a Harley-Davidson convention. They came for rounds of beer pong, to shop the lesbian-centric crafts along the outer courtyard, to mingle and splash, and of course, to enjoy light beer and effervescent wine.

After each day's sunshine, the red carpet shone the limelight on a fleet of celesbian talent, including Fortune Feimster, Jamie Babbit, Bridget McManus, and sexy cast members from shows like The L Word Mississippi, Lphabet, #Hashtag, The Real L Word, and Unicorn Plan-It.

Feimster's advice to prepare for the Dinah: "Get a lot of sleep and work out a ton, and get ready for a lot of women rubbing on one another."

Dyke Springs

Around Palm Springs, which now owns the nickname "Dyke Springs," scantily clad lezzies were as common as desert jackrabbits along the cruising strips of Palm Canyon and Indian Canyon Drives. The weekend saw an influx of traffic to the city's new lesbian-owned Dish Creative Cuisine, where chefs and co-owners Joane Garcia Colson and Michelle Heinrich put their amazing culinary talents to good use in the romantic dining room and open-air bar.

At nearby Serious Eats, chef and co-owner Kathleen Brown proved where to find the best brunch in town (with or without a hangover), serving dishes like short rib/chili cheese fries and seriously delicious crispy fish tacos with homemade salsa. Of course, there was never a shortage of Dinah revelers at local gay fave Pinocchio in the Desert, home to bottomless California bubbly for $4 all day long. (Fortunately its fare is highly absorbent.)

During the Dinah weekend, the National Center for Lesbian Rights also took time out for its prestigious annual Dinah Garden Party. There Hanson received the NCLR's Spirit of Stonewall Lifetime Achievement Award, while the legendary Lily Tomlin received the Vanguard Award.

The pair were joined by Meredith Baxter, Feimster, local elected officials, and other prominent members of the LGBT community who came out in support of equality in all its forms-from protecting LGBT youth from conversion therapy, to fighting for marriage equality before the U.S. Supreme Court.

For all five days and nights, the Dinah marked its silver anniversary with the out-and-proud support of the host city. The banner draped across Palm Canyon Drive welcomed festival veterans and first timers from around the world with the proclamation: "Palm Springs congratulates The Dinah for 25 epic years!"

For more information on The Dinah, visit www.thedinah.com. For information on travel in Palm Springs, visit www.visitpalmsprings.com/