Morgan Wallen's Sand In My Boots festival has announced it will not return to Gulf Shores next year. The festival was a reimagined version of the annual Hangout Festival, which has been taking place since 2010.
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The first event was a huge success, selling out in just two to four hours. Sand In My Boots also brought 40,000 tourists to Gulf Shores, Alabama, on each day it operated. This not only promoted the area itself, but also provided Gulf Shores with a significant economic boost. Just take a look at this video of the event from a few months ago. Those crowds are massive!
The city was super happy with the festival's overall outcome and hoped for the same kind of turnout this year. A few months ago, when deciding whether it would return, the city acknowledged the high precedent that had been set.
"Festival agrees the 2025 SIMB festival will serve as a benchmark for the type of event they shall offer in order to attract a similar audience to provide a positive reputational and economic impact for the community." However, he also expressed concern that the same kinds of crowds would be drawn in going forward."
"Those conditions are going to be along the lines of, create the same group that we had this year... So we're going to have to get comfortable that they're going to be able to recreate that group of people we had on the beach, because it was dramatically different..."
Now, it seems the festival will not return in 2026, although plans are in place for 2027.
There's Hope for Another Country Festival in Gulf Shores in 2027
When explaining why Sand In My Boots would not return, apparently, it came down to the lineup. Last year, headliners included Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Post Malone, and Brooks & Dunn. The lineup also featured other country artists, including Bailey Zimmerman, Ella Langley, and ERNEST.
It seems like Gulf Shores was hoping for something similar, as opposed to returning to the kinds of acts they had before. "We are already approving the event in 2027," explained Mayor Robert Craft. "We delayed too long, or they did, in their application to be able to get the kind of acts that we required them to have to be successful in 2026." He emphasized, "We will refuse to let them go back to the acts that we've had before and so they couldn't do it."
He explained, "They canceled the 2026 event, but they've got time now to pursue the type of talent we want on our beaches to invite the right audience that we want on our beaches, that we proved last time, the last event, that could happen. We're determined if it's going to happen, it's going to happen that way again".
Photo by: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
