Neither Hangout Music Festival nor Sand in My Boots will take place in Gulf Shores next May, the city’s mayor announced Monday evening at the end of a city council meeting.
While it wasn’t an agenda item to be voted on or discussed, Mayor Robert Craft gave an update at the end of the meeting on the springtime, beachside, weekend event that brings up-and-coming, classic and headlining acts to coastal Alabama. He said because the event’s production company, AEG Presents, could not confirm artists to make a lineup curated toward the Sand in My Boots style of country music that was popular last year, the group pulled out of the contract with the city.
According to previous reporting by GCM, it was not a stipulation of the contract to have a certain amount of artists confirmed by a certain point, but the city had made it clear that it would not approve the festival moving forward if 2026 was not similar to Sand in My Boots.
Craft noted that the city and production company are already working toward a lineup and event that will fit both sides’ priorities, and artists’ availability, to return in 2027.
Hangout Music Festival, only called Sand in My Boots last year to reflect Morgan Wallen’s curation of a country and hip-hop/rap lineup, launched in 2010 after the Horizon Deepwater oil spill as a way to show the country the Gulf Coast would bounce back and had reasons to visit. The only other time was canceled was for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
