GULF SHORES — Of 22 speakers at a public input meeting on whether the city should enter another contract with the festival producers for Hangout Music Festival/Sand in My Boots, two were …
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GULF SHORES — Of 22 speakers at a public input meeting on whether the city should enter another contract with the festival producers for Hangout Music Festival/Sand in My Boots, two were against a continued agreement, in contrast to a majority of residents who and businesses that responded to an online survey.
Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft told an audience of around 125 at the city's Cultural Center near the Gulf Shores Sportsplex on Thursday, June 6, that he did not think the city would want to bring the three-day beachside festival back after last year.
"To be honest with you, I had assumed it was over," Craft said. "What we've had in the last couple of years with low attendance and issues that were not conducive to a great community aspect in that area down there, I had made up my mind that it was probably going to end."
The city started the festival in 2010 as a "handshake agreement that was written down" with Shaul Zislin, who owns The Hangout restaurant. In 2015, Zislin sold the "controlling interests" to California-based festival management group AEG Presents. When that partnership started, a 10-year contract was entered between AEG and the city, which expired this year.
After AEG "changed everything" for Sand in My Boots this year, turning from a pop and multi-genre to a country-themed lineup with rap, hip hop and alternative artists curated and headlined by Morgan Wallen, Craft said it was "more conducive" to the community and "less offensive to our area." Arrests, though they had been decreasing each of the past three years, dropped by over 100% this year with an older audience.
AEG requested the city continue the festival with another contract in a meeting a few days after the event, but Craft said the city would seek public input first.
Craft said the meeting was held to determine if an agreement should take place with "conditions applied" and using "the same group that we had this year," meaning it would likely continue as Sand in My Boots festival and not Hangout Music Festival.
In announcements promoting Wallen's involvement this year, it was noted that Wallen likely can't perform every year because of his tour schedule.
Low attendance was not a problem this year.
This year's festival has had the "highest demand for a ticket in the entire world" when based on the cost of the average resale ticket, which was over $940, according to Gulf Shores Director of Economic Development and Public Affairs Blake Phelps. Phelps said the "unique" media coverage including photos, videos and articles had surpassed 9.8 billion views from around the world.
Almost 80% of the Sand in My Boots attendees were between ages 25 and 54, Phelps said, and while he didn't have exact numbers from previous years they traditionally "skew a little younger." He said almost half of the attendees had a household income of $100,000 or more.
Two surveys were open for businesses and residents to respond to how Hangout Music Festival/Sand in My Boots has impacted them. Phelps said the business survey got 454 responses, of which 77% were businesses within Gulf Shores city limits, and the residents survey had 1,995 responses, of which 1,141 were full-time residents.
Phelps said nearly 77% of businesses said they had an increase in sales due to Sand in My Boots, with 53% saying revenue increased over 10% "directly due to the festival." Only 8.4% of businesses said they saw negative impacts from the festival.
Of the businesses that responded, 86% support the city extending the festival.
For the resident survey, 75% said they were "satisfied overall" with how the festivals impacted the Gulf Shores community, with 17.4% of survey responses saying they were dissatisfied.
A little over 76% said economic benefits from the festivals are "significantly important" to the community, and less than 6% said it creates no economic benefits for Gulf Shores.
The crowd interrupted Phelp's presentation with applause when he read the statistic everyone was waiting for: 75.9% of residents responded they were in support of a continued contract.
The first two speakers during the public comment period were not among that group.
George Sinak, a resident of Gulf Shores for 38 years, said he was mostly against the venue location and the time of year the festival was held, suggesting it be held in September rather than May.
"May is the best month here, and we're being robbed," Sinak said. "We don't mind sharing it, but no venue should ever be allowed to block public access to the public beach, the boulevard, the water that we swim in, (should) never be blocked."
Sinak, whose brother is Councilman Gary Sinak, an outspoken opponent of the festival, said he thinks it was "a little hypocritical" of the city to put an alcohol ban in place during the spring break season and then hold a festival where people "walk around intoxicated."
He said with many people in a small site "with alcohol and possibly some drugs" that there could possibly be a "crazy kind of shooting" like how "you see on TV." Sinak said he was mostly concerned for the police and fire departments "in harm's way."
"I understand that money's good, but there's no reason to sell our soul and our principals down the road," he said.
He suggested the council skip a year of the festival to see what impact that weekend has "without the concert here." He also suggested putting the vote on the municipal election ballot later this year, and, if the city were to decide to continue, he would prefer to have it as a one- or two-year contract.
Taylor Means, Gulf Shores resident and small business owner, has attended "every single" Hangout Music Festival, and now Sand in My Boots, since it started in 2010 (It launched as a continuation of Jimmy Buffett's benefit concert after the BP oil spill to show the nation the Gulf Coast could rebound.). Means said he disagreed with Sinak, countering that "October is the best month" for Gulf Shores locals.
He also spoke about what he thought regarding closing the public beaches and any problems with traffic.
"Gulf Shores has eight public beaches. Two of them are closed for the festival, I believe, also for the NCAA volleyball tournament," Means said. "We have six that are still open, not counting the state park and Orange Beach. For locals, actually, Hangout weekend's the best time to go to the beach because nobody's there. They're all at the festival."
"Regarding traffic, hey, we're a tourist destination," he later said. "School's out in the spring and summer, and traffic's a problem. Drive north on a Saturday in summer at 10 a.m., traffic's a problem. We've had three years of roadwork going on in Gulf Shores; traffic's a problem. … It's a problem. It comes with the territory. It comes with the progress. That's the price we pay for living in paradise."
Terry Fogle, a resident of 28 years, said he felt similarly to Sinak on what is "taken away" by the festival.
"When you have a festival like that, it's not just three days, it's a long time," Fogle said. "There's a lot of blocked off traffic areas. You can't get to the beach. … It's limiting our beach that I moved down here for."
He said he "would vote no" on having the festival "on our beach."
Four of the 20 in support of continuing the festival suggested the city continue the agreement but with conditions.
Some recommendations from the residents included moving the festival west along the beach closer to state park territory, moving the stages to decrease sound feeding into neighborhoods, more control over parking and transportation around the festival site and having something for locals before, during or after the festival.
Michael Detzler, a resident of 13 years, said the positives of the festival have changed over time. He said he would like to see if noise mitigation could be improved by moving the stages to where they faced the beach or even "putting it between" Gulf Shores and Orange Beach at the state park beach.
"If you're going to put it down on the beach, put the stages toward the water," Detzler said. "Not side by side, not where it bounces off buildings. We're about a half a mile away. I can hear everything. For three days, 12 hours a day."
He also suggested the city have yearly evaluations of the contract.
Tiffany Rittich, who's lived on the island for 30 years and in Gulf Shores for eight, remembered "the good ole days" of the festival early on that had "music for all generations back then." She was in support of the festival but recommended a "thank you for the citizens" with something "like a big party."
"Throw us a bone, figure out what can you do for the citizens as a thank you," Rittch said.
She was also concerned about the staffing at the free-standing ER in Gulf Shores as she was there on the last night of the festival and said they were "woefully understaffed."
"What should've been maybe a two-three hour stay took six hours," she said. "They just didn't have enough people, and I think that's a really serious concern. We had a lot of people there from the fest, yes, but we have locals that need it, too."
Most of the speakers who were fully in support spoke on how the tourism-driven economy benefits from events like the music festival.
Leah Johns, who works in restaurants in Gulf Shores, also spoke on how accessing a different beach "might add an extra 10 minutes to your drive" but that the festival weekend is what "keeps our businesses open" year-round.
"We're taking care of the locals here in the offseason, and we can't do that if we're losing these opportunities and our business may close," Johns said. "… If a three-day festival can keep our lights on and keep food on the table, why would we not take that?"
She said residents need to "get used to having tourists."
"There's no way to work around that. They're here for the same reasons that we're here. It's beautiful, we love it, everything's great here," she said.
No details have been announced on the city's official decision on the contract at this time.
