Velvet Ibiza Turns Five With A Sold Out Crowd
by Heather Cassell
Five years ago, DJ Carine de Mesmaeker didn’t know she was first making history and second building one of Europe’s largest all-women’s festivals.
“To my big surprise Velvet Ibiza was the first-ever woman event on this island,” said Carine, founder and producer of Velvet Ibiza and Velvet 69.
Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands, an archipelago of Spain, in the Mediterranean Sea.
Nor did, she ever imagine the festival would become one of Europe’s hottest all-women parties attracting women from 28 countries from around the world including as far away as Australia and Brazil.
Guests enjoy hanging out by the pool at Velvet Ibiza. (Photo: Beli Klein / www.beliklein.com)
“I didn’t expect this at all,” she said. “The nicest thing about the event is that there is such a large mix of women … and the most fantastic thing is that everyone gets along.”
Carine estimates that up to 60% of Velvet Ibiza’s guests return year after year.
Broadening Horizons
For a decade, Velvet 69, Carine’s bimonthly women’s parties in Brussels, Belgium, has attracted more than 1,000 women.
She also produces Brussel Pride’s Women’s Square when she isn’t working at her day job at Visit Flanders, the Flemish Government’s tourism department.
“I noticed an evolution,” said Carine talking about observing the cultural shift with the closure of lesbian bars and the rise of bigger events.
At the same time, she noticed that Europe wasn’t hosting the same type of large-scale all-women events like The Dinah in Palm Springs, California or WomenFest in Key West, Florida, she said.
“There is still a lack of events for women to attend,” she said. “There are so many events for gay men, but for women I think that there should be more. That is the main reason why I wanted to do Velvet Ibiza.”
Carine de Mesmaeker, left, founder and producer of Velvet Ibiza and Velvet 69 (Photo: Beli Klein / www.beliklein.com)
It was a big leap to take Velvet to Spain’s queer-friendly island, Ibiza, where there hadn’t been a women’s festival before, but she’s pulled it off with her small team of six.
Carine chose Ibiza, an island on the southern end of Spain, because of its warm climate and natural beauty and because “it’s the party island,” she said.
Ibiza is a great vacation destination, not just for Velvet Ibiza or the party scene, but because of the island’s affordability, not to mention its LGBTQI-friendly culture, its vibrant nightlife scene, and celebrity sightings.
The first year, up to an estimated 400 women attended the festival, Carine said. Since then, it has grown to more than 900 women.
About 20% of her guests come from Canada and the United States, she said.
Velvet Ibiza’s fifth anniversary, May 7 – 12, it completely sold out.
The 60-year-old lesbian DJ turned producer attributes the festival’s success to hosting all of the women at the all-inclusive Hotel Cala Martina, the warm friendly welcoming diverse environment, and the variety of events guests can enjoy from relaxation and wellness to culture to partying day and night.
Guest are free to create the weekend they want in the comfort and safety of an all-women environment.
Velvet Ibiza guests enjoy a morning stretch doing yoga. (Photo Cred t: Beli Klein / www.beliklein.com)
“The best thing is the first day when everyone is arriving on the island,” said Carine, who greets guests as they arrive. “It’s very important that you give people this full service, that you give them a warm welcome the moment they arrive.”
“After a year it’s like a family reunion,” she said about guests who return to the festival year-after-year.
What To Expect
This year the festival’s headliner is Belgian nineties rock band K’s Choice frontwoman Sarah Bettens.
Guests will be entertained around the pool and in the nightclub by 16 international DJs spinning everything from electro, R&B, and more to get the women dancing during the day and into the night.
That is if the women aren’t playing and splashing around in the pool.
During the day festival goers young and old, new and returning will also be able to relax on the soft sands and in the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea and enjoy yoga, hiking, water sports, and other activities and excursions throughout the week.
Velvet Ibiza guests know how to have a good time beneath the warm Mediterranean sun dancing and drinking. (Photo: Beli Klein / www.beliklein.com)
As day turns into night, the party will heat up with the DJs from Belgium Quivr and Soon; Ibiza Billie Clements, Miss Cupcake, and Gala Gutierrez; the Netherlands Jacky Lunar, Jennifer Cooke, Jill & Cece, and Mc Boogshe; as well as Germany’s DJane Xandra, Israel’s Shaked, Italy’s Manuela Doriani, the UK’s 2Traxx, and the USA’s Von Kiss spinning the latest dance anthems.
At the end of the week, Carine says good-bye to festival goers with a hug.
Book your next Spain vacation with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
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