For many LGBTQ+ midwesterners, a first trip to the Dunes Resort in Western Michigan is a rite of passage—an introduction to the kind of freedom, self-expression and togetherness that generations of queer people have found there for decades.
“You get out of your car here, and you forget your issues [or] prejudices,” said Mike Jones, co-owner of the Dunes. “You just coexist, and enjoy all that the community has to offer.”
In 2026, the Dunes celebrates 45 years of that legacy with a packed summer lineup honoring the resort’s long history. Over the years, guests have kept coming back for pool parties, tea dances, drag shows and late-night celebrations, and the neighboring lakeshore communities of Douglas and Saugatuck have cemented reputations as LGBTQ+ getaways.
The Dunes has grown since its opening from a modest 22-room motel into the largest LGBTQ+ resort and entertainment complex in the Midwest, featuring a pool, indoor and outdoor dance floors, multiple bars and live entertainment venues.
“People will tell us they save all their money for one vacation every year—and that’s to come to the Dunes,” said Jones, who bought the resort with his business partners in 1999. “To know we’re that important to certain people is humbling.”
Tea dances, White Party Weekend and everything in between
Each summer at the Dunes features a regular cycle of themed events beginning around Memorial Day weekend and running through Halloween.
“We’re not just one thing,” Jones said of the Dunes’ eclectic summer schedule. One weekend might bring line dancing and country music for LGBTQ+ cowboys, while the next could center on leather culture, bear nightlife or trans celebration.
This year’s anniversary season kicks off Memorial Day Weekend from May 22-25, when the Dunes officially opens its seasonal pool and welcomes DJs Keller Shaw, J Warren and DJ JohnE.
The following weekend, Go Girl! Saugatuck returns for its ninth and final year at the Dunes before organizer Mimi Gonzalez retires as producer. The inclusive event—open to all on the female spectrum—features comedy, burlesque, drag king performances and live music.
The summer lineup also includes the Trans Pride Pool Party on June 7; Pride Weekend from June 26-28; and the resort’s annual White Party Weekend from Aug. 14-16, which remains one of the Dunes’ signature summer traditions.
The 2026 season continues through the fall with events marking Labor Day Weekend and Mr. Michigan Leather Weekend—before culminating with one of the region’s largest Halloween celebrations.
Following the nearby Douglas Halloween Parade—set for Oct. 31 and expected to draw upwards of 10,000 people—the Dunes hosts one of the biggest afterparties, complete with its longstanding costume contest.
“Halloween is the Dunes at its best,” said Nick Aleck, the resort’s marketing director. “You’ve got a dance party, karaoke and so much going on. It’s a spectacle.”
From motel to queer Midwestern institution
Sundays at the Dunes come alive thanks to the weekly tea dances, when crowds pack the resort’s outdoor dance floor for an afternoon of dancing, mingling and celebration.
The weekly tradition celebrates queer joy, but the tea dances carry deep historical roots tied to reasons LGBTQ+ havens like the Dunes were created in the first place.
Tea dances, which first emerged as high-society social gatherings in the late 19th century, became popular among LGBTQ+ people in the 1950s. Queer people gathered at the dances at a time when laws and policing often made it dangerous—or even illegal—for gay people to congregate openly in bars.
Michigan carried its own anti-gay liquor law until 1979, making it illegal to operate bars where gay people gathered. But during those difficult years, Carl Jennings and his partner, Lawrence Gammons, began envisioning a dedicated LGBTQ+ hotel and bar in western Michigan, eventually leading them to open the Dunes in 1981.
“There are people that used to leave work at Grand Rapids on a Friday and change clothes while they were driving in the car so they could hurry up and meet their boyfriend at the Dunes that no one knew about,” Jones said.
Back then, the Dunes was an intimate refuge: a 22-room motel with a pool, a tiny bar and a breakfast area.
“The owners just envisioned creating a safe space for people in the Midwest, and I don’t think they had any idea of what the Dunes would become,” Jones said.
Over the next few decades, the Dunes steadily expanded as it drew both new and repeat visitors. The motel’s drive-through, where visitors would park to check into the resort, was torn down and replaced with the bar’s dance floor.
As new venues opened, the Dunes became a major LGBTQ+ entertainment destination, booking performers such as Eartha Kitt, the Weather Girls and disco singer Pamela Stanley, a Detroit native who was a staple of the resort during its early years.
But Jones emphasized that the Dunes’ legacy extends far beyond the celebrities and entertainers who have performed there. The Dunes has been a place where thousands of meaningful relationships have started.
“There’s probably people who met their spouse there. There’s probably people who had their first kiss there,” Jones said.
Anchoring a larger LGBTQ+ destination
Today, the Dunes is at the center of a broader queer-friendly tourism scene that made Saugatuck and Douglas into one of the Midwest’s defining gay getaways.
The area is home to Michigan’s Art Coast and a thriving creative community, walkable downtowns, a network of queer-owned businesses, a beach-town atmosphere and a balance of nature and nightlife.
“We really do have a Provincetown [or] Fire Island vibe right here in the Midwest,” Aleck said.
That tourism appeal has also reshaped how the Dunes sees itself within the broader Saugatuck and Douglas experience, Jones said. While many visitors stay at the resort itself, it’s common for others to book nearby rentals, hotels and campgrounds while spending their days moving between the Dunes’ pool and nightlife scene and the area’s beaches, businesses and art galleries.
Jones said the resort has embraced its role as part of a larger LGBTQ+ travel ecosystem—an evolution he described as important to the Dunes’ future.
“We become more and more a part of the destination than just the full destination itself,” Jones said. “That’s how we see the Dunes staying relevant for even more years to come.”