The time of year when influxes of people flock to Gulf Shores for the Hangout Music Festival usually occurs this month.

However, in case you have not been following the past five months, the Hangout Music Festival, which included last year’s “Sand in My Boots” lineup, will not take place this year.

One of the area’s flagship events that brought music’s biggest stars to the beaches of Alabama has been put on hold for 2026. Despite previously approving a contract extension for the festival, this year’s event was canceled in December 2025, a choice city officials said was made by the festival’s organizers, AEG Presents, with support from the city.

While there was discussion about having something in place for one year in 2026, this never materialized as, by the time the contract was approved, the festival organizers had little time to find enough artists to put something together, so it was ultimately decided to take a year off.

Grant Brown, recreation and cultural affairs director for the City of Gulf Shores, told GCM that the city cannot divulge specific tax revenue numbers regarding the festival due to them being tied to private entities. However, in 2013, the city hired Auburn University professor of economics M. Keivan Deravi, Ph.D., to conduct a study on the economic impacts related to the Hangout Music Festival, which found that the festival accounted for around $31 million in total economic impact on the local economy through goods and services purchased, along with 518 full-time equivalent jobs.

GCM previously reported that the 2025 edition of the festival, called “Sand in My Boots,” with a mostly country lineup curated and headlined by genre star Morgan Wallen, contributed $2.2 million in direct revenue to the city’s budget, according to documents, with the local economic impact estimated at $70 million, likely due to increased ticket prices and an older crowd that ate and drank more.

Brown said that all revenue generated by the city from the festival, through either fees or taxes, goes into its general fund, which is budgeted for various purposes including the city’s operational costs and employee salaries. With no festival this year, Brown said the city estimated “well over a million dollars” in tax revenue shortfall this year.

“We know that our budget this year is going to suffer from not having the Hangout Music Festival in town and unfortunately, other businesses will probably experience the same thing,” Brown said.

Logan Canan, general manager of Hammered Crab in Gulf Shores, said despite a short window of experiencing the festival, having been open since 2023, they are probably going to see between 30% and 45% fewer sales within the time frame the festival would have taken place. Canan also noted how many people stay longer during the time frame of the festival.

“(With) Memorial Day weekend coming up, some people will stay longer, so the impact for us is not only going to be seen this weekend, but the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the following week as well,” Canan said.

On the other hand, Canan also said the festival crowd brought in seemingly less generous tippers and a significant increase in traffic, which kept regulars away from the restaurant, which is not close enough to the festival grounds to get direct impact from festivalgoers. However, he did note that the most recent “Sand in My Boots” edition of the festival had “a much different result,” while acknowledging that it was only based on one year.

Outside of the local food industry, Sand Castle University is a frequent participant in the festival, creating sand sculptures each year, including two marquee sculptures and other smaller sculptures across three days. Owner Janel Hawkins, who has been attending Hangout Fest since 2012, said while this year’s situation did not affect them negatively, as they do not have any long-standing contracts with the festival, she did note that it comes during a period of the year when tourism does not pick up until after the school year ends.

“I think the biggest thing is that it’s just a really fun time that we’re missing out on, especially with our staff,” Hawkins said. “It’s an all staff, all hands on deck period for us and we all go out and it’s actually really like team building for us. A lot of the time, new staff for that year, it’s their first time working on a large project, first time really getting their hands in the sand and making a large sand sculpture, so if anything, we just really miss that camaraderie and that community that comes with having a music festival that everyone can participate in.”

With the festival expected to return in 2027, Brown indicated that the city and festival producers will be having discussions about a potential long-term franchise agreement later this year to avoid a repeat of this year’s situation, though in the event they reach an agreement, it likely will not be in the five- to 10-year range.

“We don’t want to tie their hands,” Brown said. “We want to go ahead and give them every opportunity to be successful, which helps them and helps our community.”

As previously reported by GCM, Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said the city “made it really clear” to event organizers that they will not agree to hold the event in 2027 if the lineup is not similar to “Sand in My Boots.”

"They certainly understand what we will not go back to, like the Boom Boom Tent and that type of performance there," Craft was previously quoted as saying. "It was not anything close to what we had this past year. It brought a much younger, less mature crowd here that caused issues, and we can't go back to it, and they understand that."