A new annual women's weekend is coming to the Midwest in June.
Go Girl Saugatuck will take place June 3-5 at The Dunes Resort in Saugatuck, Mich., which is a gay-owned resort catering to the LGBT community and located in one of Michigan's most LGBT-friendly beach towns.
Go Girl Saugatuck will feature DJ All the Way Kay from Chicago and DJ Lena from Detroit, musician Reina Williams, comedian Mimi Gonzalez, pool parties and educational workshops.
The event replaces the semiannual Women's Weekend that has been held in the spring and fall at The Dunes Resort for many years.
"It's a rebranding of Women's Weekend with a woman at the helm who has participated in, performed at and been a part of a lot of major women's events," said Gonzalez, who is also the producer of Go Girl Saugatuck.
Gonzalez said the goal of Go Girl Saugatuck is to create an event that will draw women from all over the Midwest to The Dunes Resort. She said she is hoping to see women who used to attend Women's Weekend return as well as to entice new attendees.
"My long term goal is to launch a Midwest women's weekend where women from the tip of the mitt all the way aroundfrom within a 100 mile radius of any Great Lakecome to this event," she said.
"I want this to be the Midwest women's weekend that Dinah Shore is for Palm Springs, Aqua Girl is for Miami Beach and Women's Week is for Provincetown."
Gonzalez said she wants Go Girl Saugatuck to be an inclusive atmosphere with women of all ages and backgrounds in attendance.
"I want old school and new school to be on the dance floor together and I want everybody to enjoy meeting new friends and learning from each other during the workshops," she said.
Gonzalez also noted she was a regular attendee of the women's only event Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, better known as MichFest, which took place for four decades in northern Michigan and held its last festival last summer. She said though she has no intention of trying to replace MichFest, she carries the spirit of that festival with her.
"MichFest taught me to honor and appreciate women's music, culture and myself as a woman," she said. "I carry that with me forward into my life and I want other women who come to this weekend to feel beautiful, loved, respected and adored as women."
Gonzalez said her commitment to celebrating women extends beyond the actual three-day weekend as well, noting she's made a point of working with women-owned businesses in planning Go Girl Saugatuck.
Gonzalez said in year one she hopes to see at least 500 women attend Go Girl Saugatuck.
"The most important thing for women to do for each other is to show up," she said.
Tickets for Go Girl Saugatuck are $10 for Friday, $15 for Saturday or $20 for the entire weekend.
The Dunes Resort is currently sold out of rooms, but Gonzalez said the resort will help point people to other hotels in Saugatuck or nearby Douglas that still have rooms available.
Attendees can also take advantage of a new partnership between The Dunes Resort and Campit Outdoor Resort, a nearby LGBT resort, which offers tent and RV camping options as well as cabins, a bunkhouse and vintage trailers.
Visit GoGirlSaugatuck.com to learn more.