“More Disciplined…Less Problems” – Gulf Shores Liked The Crowd At Morgan Wallen’s “Sand In My Boots” Festival So Much That They’re Threatening To End Hangout Festival

Safe to say that the first – and possibly only – edition of Morgan Wallen‘s Sand In My Boots Festival was a massive success.

The festival took place back in May as a one year takeover of the annual Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The lineup featured Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn and HARDY, as well as a wide range of artists from different genres including Riley Green, Wiz Khalifa, T-Pain, Chase Rice, 49 Winchester, and Three 6 Mafia.

It was clear that the festival was going to be a hit after tickets sold out less than two hours after going on sale. And after the festival wrapped up, it seems that it may have set the standard for future festivals in Gulf Shores.

The Gulf Shores Police Department reported 37 arrests during the three-day festival, which is down significantly from the 94 arrests made during Hangout Festival in 2024. 26 of those arrests were for possession of a controlled substance, while the second most frequent charge was public intoxication with six arrests.

Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft had high praise for the crowd that the festival brought in:

“My analogy has been, my own personal thoughts, in the past, we had young kids with their daddy’s credit card here and not a whole lot for them to worry about. They were on a free leash. So this year we had an older group that had their own credit card. And you could certainly see that they were more disciplined. There were less problems…

Really it was a much better behaving crowd.”

In fact, the city liked the crowd that Sand In My Boots brought in so much that it may have threatened the future of Hangout Festival altogether.

The Gulf Shores city council recently reviewed a proposal on whether or not to allow Hangout Festival to return in 2026, and the city’s director of economic development and public affairs made it clear that they expect the same type of crowd at future festivals or they may not grant them a permit to return in the future:

“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.”

The city ultimately approved a one year extension for the festival, which the mayor says will serve as a test for the future:

“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…

We have made it really clear. The only one we’re worried about right now is ’26. Can they do what they’re supposed to do, in ’26. The motivating factor there, if you can do it right, we can go forward. If you don’t, it’s over.”

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Sand In My Boots is returning for 2026. Nothing has been announced yet, and Morgan’s team had no comment when asked about the possibility of the festival returning – though he did seem to leave open the possibility while addressing the crowd during his closing set of this year’s show:

“Me and a couple of my closest friends and teammates, we’ve been throwing the idea of doing our own festival around for a long time now, and we just happened to run into the right partner and the right people to work with, and with a lot of hard work and a lot of really great artists to come out here, we got to make that happen.

I’ve heard nothing but great reports for how this weekend has went.”

Morgan then asked the crowd for their feedback, and of course there was a massive roar from those in attendance:

“Ok, cool. We’ll try to do it again sometime.”

If Sand In My Boots doesn’t return in the current form, the new restrictions on the festival don’t even necessarily mean that the 2026 version of Hangout Festival will be country music. But it does mean that if the 2026 version doesn’t deliver, and has the same problems that the festival has experienced in the past, 2026 could be the last year of the festival.

It’s a proposal that’s supported by local businesses in the area, which reported a dramatic increase in revenue and better behaved customers than in years past. According to the owner of one restaurant located within walking distance of the festival site:

“A lot more clothing, dramatically less issues…

Last year there were a lot of declined cards on the last day. This year there were not. From a business standpoint, our revenue definitely increased… This was a remarkably better experience this year than last year, hands down.”

Sounds like Morgan may have ended up buying the Hangout Festival another year…but he may have also set a standard that’s going to be tough to meet in 2026.The post “More Disciplined…Less Problems” – Gulf Shores Liked The Crowd At Morgan Wallen’s “Sand In My Boots” Festival So Much That They’re Threatening To End Hangout Festival first appeared on Whiskey Riff.