The beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama, will be uncharacteristically quiet in the spring of 2026 after Mayor Robert Craft on Monday announced the cancellation of next year’s Hangout Music Festival.
At a Gulf Shores City Council meeting on Monday night, Craft said organizers of the popular festival were unable to secure “the type of talent that we want on our beaches” in time for the coming year, Alabama-based WBRC News reported. Craft said he expects the festival to resume in 2027, according to WBRC.
The decision follows Morgan Wallen’s controversial takeover of the music festival this May, a three-day event dubbed “Sand in my Boots” that featured a lineup brimming with other country music artists, including Brooks and Dunn, Post Malone and Hardy. Wallen, a wildly popular country musician who has been a contentious figure since he was filmed in 2021 saying a racist slur, headlined the festival.
Last year’s Sand in my Boots event marked 15 years of Hangout Fest, which typically draws thousands of music lovers to Gulf Shores in May each year for a weekend of fun on the beach. Lineups in the past have spanned musical genres and included big name acts like Lana Del Rey, Chappell Roan, Doechii, Odeza, Skrillex, Lil Nas X and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Craft hailed last year’s event as a success in his remarks, according to WKRG-TV, another Alabama-based station, saying “we will refuse to let them go back to the acts that we’ve had before.”