“The Hangout Presents Sand In My Boots: A Curated Event By Morgan Wallen”

“The Hangout Presents Sand In My Boots: A Curated Event By Morgan Wallen”
Fest’s 10 year contract to rent Gulf Shores Public Beach for two weeks ends this year

By Fran Thompson
My press credentials were revoked within a few hours of the online release of our pre-Hangout Fest issue last year.
“Please do not attempt to pick up from our box office as your credential will not be available,’’ wrote Emily R. Diament, making it clear that there was no sweet talking my way out of this unjustice. Oh well.
There was no particular reason given for my first ever revocation of 42 years covering public events, but I’m guessing our headline, “Hangout tickets selling below face value,’’ didn’t help. Neither did the kicker underneath, “Gulf Shores will hold public hearings before extending contract beyond 2025.’’
I didn’t write that the festival brings a bad element to Pleasure Island. That would not be true. I wrote that it is a well run, first class festival with incredibly clean bathroom clusters, some of which even include a valet. The fest even gives attendees the option of paying extra to watch the main stage acts from a pool.
I also wrote that it was a money pit leading to Gulf Shores Public Beach and not a community event.
Adding Morgan Wallen’s name to the fest was marketing genius. He is the biggest name in country music, and fellow headliner Post Malone is not far behind.
Tickets to the May 16-18 fest went on sale last October and were announced as having sold out 90 minutes later. Wallen, who has released two record setting, blockbuster albums in recent years, will release another album on the festival’s opening day.
In addition to Wallen and Post Malone, a headliner in 2022 who has shifted his style towards country since then, the lineup includes festival returnees Rapper T-Pain, Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz, DJ Diplo and Future Islands. And any festival that books both Brooks & Dunn and The War On Drugs is doing something right.
A single ticket on Stubhub three days before the fest (May 12) was available for $449, including fees. Pre-sale GA tickets were priced about the same in October.
“AEG and The Hangout put together the Sand In My Boots concept and had Morgan Wallen curate it. That’s the word they used,’’ said City of Gulf Shores spokesman Grant Brown. “He picked artists and songs he loves that would be a good complement to him. The official name is now The Hangout Presents: A Curated Event By Morgan Wallen. But nothing has changed as far as what has been in place with the city for the past 10 years.’’
This is the last year of the contract with AEG Presents. Yet AEG producer Reeves Price told Al.com that the Hangout Fest would return in 2026.
“Hangout Festival isn’t going anywhere and will return to Gulf Shores in 2026,’’ Price said.
That may or may not happen. There has been no communication between AEG Presents and Gulf Shores City Council about continuing the partnership, and the city is in no particular hurry to start those conversations, according to Brown.
“I’m assuming he knows it is a quality event that has a good reputation and he would love to see it continue in Gulf Shores,’’ Brown said. “But there has to be a formal document and a franchise agreement for the fest to use public property.’’
Brown also emphasized that the decision will not be based only on the dollars the festival can bring to the city and public input will be important, noting that the population of the city has more than doubled since The Hangout Fest was first announced as a family friendly event, complete with a children’s area that encompassed the entire Hangout Restaurant courtyard back in 2010.
“We will not make a decision one way or another until we get feedback from people who live here and work here,’’ Brown said. “We know it’s a financial success and it fills a void between spring break and the summer season. But our mayor has made it clear that we are not jumping to a decision.
“We are all anxious to see how it goes. It is absolutely not just about the money. There are an awful lot of discussion points that have to happen. We have to determine if the good outweighs the bad.’’
Brown said especially when it comes to logistics, safety concerns, staying current with insurance requirements, bringing in an onsite medical triage team, weather expertise, 911 dispatch lines, onsite structural engineers, the permit process and coordinating communications between the FBI, Homeland Security and local police departments, AEG Presents is the most professional organization he has ever worked with.
“It’s a good situation to be in for our police and public works departments to produce a good, quality, safe event,’’ he said. “The quality of the production is as good or better than anything I’ve ever seen before.’’
Unpopular with locals, partly because it impacts Gulf Shores Public Beach for two weeks and shuts down East and West Beach Blvds. for a week, the fest also has a negative impact on a majority of downtown bushinesses who see way less traffic during the fest.
The tax, license and franchise fee revenue the city collects from the fest helps support the incredible amenities Gulf Shores citizens enjoy. But that revenue is not irreplacable, and unlike Shrimp Fest in the fall, The Hangout Fest is not even remotely a community event.
In a nutshell, Gulf Shores sells exclusive use of its public beach and the roadway in front of it to a private business to the detriment of other area retailers and restaurants and against the wishes of a vast majority of its citizens in return for money that directly benefits those citizens.
Gulf Shores collects three percent sales tax on all sales inside the fest, including ticket sales, just like it does from Wal-Mart or any other retailer. Gulf Shores also collects special event license fees from merchandise vendors and business license fees from companies that provide tents, lights, potable water, etc. It is a long list.
What has changed significantly is the franchise fee the fest pays on ticket sales. Before 2017, it was nonexistent – a mere $1 per year. That fee increased to one percent of gross ticket sales in 2017 and two percent the following year.
In 2019, the franchise fee increased to three percent of ticket sales and that has continued into this year. This means Gulf Shores collects $60 on every $1,000 VIP ticket sold. That is in addition to the six percent bed tax the partying kids pay for every dollar they spend on accommodations.
The 2025 Gulf Shores budget is a record $8,3798,669, with building projects at Gulf Shores City Schools and transportation improvements making up the largest segment.
The Hangout also reimburses the city for expenses occurred directly or indirectly in connection with staging the fest. But it’s not like city employees do not have ample other opportunities to pick up extra shifts. The fest is a major strain on city staff in just about every department.
Gulf Shores has given this upscale late spring break a place at its family vacation table. But it is fair to question why Gulf Shores would want to promote itself as anything other than a safe, family vacation destination, especially when neither the city nor the Visitor’s Bureau have control over the brand being pushed by AEG Presents.
The best possible promotion for Pleasure Island’s brand is for all of us who live here to continue with our natural inclination to simply be nice to tourists. Southern hospitality is also a big part of our brand.
Some fest attendees, once exposed to our beaches, will return later in life with their families. But so will the people who come here for the NCAA Volleyball Championships, which Gulf Shores has locked up through at least 2031, and the 1,000 kids who play in the prestigious regional beach volleyball tourney just to the west of that tourney.
That is in addition to the numerous youth soccer, softball and baseball tourneys the sports arm of our tourism bureau works to bring here. These people are already coming here with their families.
Back in his frontman days, fest founder
Saul Zislin said rock stars would talk about the beaches here as they travel the world. He said people come to the fest for the first time and then come back ready to buy a $2 million condo. That same theory applies to the music stars who play the Wharf and doctors from Birmingham when they discover what we already know.
Gulf Shores, in an effort to get ahead of rowdiness spurred by spring breakers no longer welcome in Panama City, instituted a spring break alcohol ban in 2017 that continues today.
At its core, Sand In My Boots is a very upscale spring break for 20-somethings, and attendees mostly come and go by chartered bus. It is a controlled enviroment, but there is also some hypocrisy in banning alcohol during spring break while welcoming 40,000 young music festival patrons here to overdrink and dance with 10 of their fraternity brothers and then pile into a two bedroom condo, much to the dismay of the condo cleaners who are the backbone of our tourist industry.
As Brown said, Gulf Shores will most definitely hold public meetings before extending the Hangout contract. Our leaders want our input and attending meetings is the best way to let them know our opinion.
Is it not OK to not want the fest here just because it’s not a good fit or because we don’t want to see our public beach rented out to any business for an extended weekend?
A majority of fulltime residents do not want to see our city host a major music fest that impacts our most famous intersection for about two weeks. But should we just grit our teeth and think about those wonderful free concerts the city sponsors at Meyer Park and Gulf Place and all the other amazing quality of life amenities we enjoy?
I don’t know if he has come to a conclusion. But Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft understands the quandary.
“The challenge is to explain all the things that we are doing and the money that we collect. It balances out. This what you give up. This is what you get,’’ Mayor Craft said.