GULF SHORES — A one-year franchise agreement to host Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores was unanimously approved by Gulf Shores City Council at their July 28 meeting.

The previous 10-year contract, with AEG Presents, expired this year with Sand in My Boots, a special Hangout event curated and headlined by country music star Morgan Wallen. Tickets for the event sold out after 90 minutes. This agreement allows for the festival to extend the event an additional year after the 2026 festival. Both the city and the festival group must agree to approve the extension.

Hangout Music Festival began in 2010 as an extension of the late Jimmy Buffet's benefit concert after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Though the lineup has evolved almost continuously, this year's Sand in My Boots artists were largely country and rap/hip hop, a shift from recent years' pop music headliners that received positive feedback from locals who attended or own businesses in the area.

Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said during a discussion on the topic at the July 21 city council work session that "we have made it really clear" that if next year's lineup is not like Sand in My Boots, the city will not agree to hold the event in 2027. He later said during public comment he does not expect the city to enter into another long-term contract.

Craft previously said Sand in My Boots festival goers were "more mature" and "better behaved."

He was not in attendance at the July 28 meeting, and Mayor Pro Tempore Phillip Harris filled in.

Before the item was approved, a public comment period was held. During this time, resident Jenna May said she has attended just about every Hangout Music Festival event.

She voiced support of approval but encouraged council members to consider adding more transportation opportunities after the festival ends each night, citing there are not enough rideshare drivers and the shuttle could not support everyone who needed a ride.

Another resident, Laurie Eberly, asked about a 3% venue fee the city is getting from the festival agreement. She said this sounded "incredibly low" as she said she has heard of some cities earning 15% to 20% from franchise agreements.

Councilman Jason Dyken said the income from the event was not capped at 3% overall, rather just 3% of each ticket sale, which brought in $2 million to the city this year.

He said this 3% does not account for revenue from housing, retail or restaurants in Gulf Shores during the festival.

Angie Swiger, who is running against Craft for mayor in this August's municipal election, brought up two points she previously discussed when the item was first presented at the council work session; whether funds received from the festival could be earmarked for certain projects rather than being placed in the general fund, and about the timeline for cleanup.

Harris said earmarking funds is a budget-related discussion to be held later through the finance committee, as this item was to discuss the franchise agreement.

On the cleanup timeline, he said that is always the city's "No. 1 concern" specifically surrounding the flow from the festival to the Memorial Holiday weekend.

He said this is also something that is not addressed in a franchise agreement and will be discussed when the festival brings their site plan before the council closer to the event.

As previously reported by GCM, this year, crews could be seen four days after the festival's closing night cleaning Gulf Shores Public Beach, which involved redistributing sand that had been built into berms to create a shoreline wall with festival beach access on the other side, trash cleanup and the final removal of flooring. The festival is responsible for removing its equipment but is not responsible for beach restoration.

Grant Brown, Recreation and Cultural Affairs director for the city, told GCM the city and festival partnership in the past has included shared cleanup responsibilities to be completed before the site usage expires, which is the Thursday before Memorial Day. He said trash cleanup is a priority, and some equipment and material, such as stages and scaffolding, is stored off-site for crews to pick up after the busy weekend that marks the unofficial start to the summer tourism season.

"In 15 years, they've not missed that deadline," Brown previously said. "... I don't think it's ever going to be possible to get all of that material out of Gulf Shores before Memorial Day starts. It just takes a lot of time to get things out of town [and to the next festival site]."