L-Beach: Get Ready for a Wicked Weekend

By MeL on Saturday, October 10, 2009 - 20:41

A few weeks ago, eurOut featured the official L-Beach website as “Website of the Week”. L-Beach is a new women’s festival that will take place for the first time from April 16th to April 18th, 2010, at the holiday beach resort “Weissenhäuser Strand” in Northern Germany. Read on to learn more about the festival and the woman who makes it all happen.

“I like to try my hand at something new from time to time, so it was probably inevitable that one day, I would end up organizing a festival,” Claudia Kiesel says with a smile. It’s a busy Friday evening in her coffee bar Kyti Voo, but she still manages to find time to talk about L-Beach. Besides running a popular meeting place for the LGBT community in Hamburg’s gayest street, Lange Reihe, Claudia has been keeping herself busy with organizing parties for women, as well as “unisex” parties, and is member of the executive board of Hamburg Pride, the association that organizes Hamburg’s annual gay pride parade. And now it’s a women’s festival, and not just any festival, but “Europe’s Biggest Women’s Indoor Festival”.

Claudia Kiesel, the woman behind L-Beach

But what exactly is L-Beach? Even though the “L” in the name suggests otherwise, Claudia emphasizes the fact that it is not meant as an exclusively lesbian event, but that it is open to all women. “I did not want to exclude the straight best friend, for example,” she says. Also, unlike other lesbian events, the focus is on entertainment and having fun rather than on serious political topics. As Claudia puts it: “I just want the women to self-confidently have a wicked weekend.”

And chances are bright that they will. Among the artists whose appearances have already been confirmed are lesbian favourites Uh Huh Her and Sarah Bettens, former German “Superstar” Elli Erl, Singer/Songwriter Mckinley Black and Danish band Cherry Overdrive. Out U.S. model/actress Jenny Shimizu will also be there as a presenter. In addition to two stages for live music and three dance floors with DJanes from all over Europe, there will be a marketplace with sales and information booths as well as a presentation of international, lesbian-themed movies. Visitors to the festival will also be able to use all the facilities offered by the resort, such as the pool area, mini golf and bowling.