In May of 2025, Morgan Wallen hosted the inaugural Sand In My Boots Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a takeover of the annual Hangout Festival. Between the ticket sales, line-up, crowd behavior, and civic reception, the first-ever Sand In My Boots Festival was a smashing success. However, it will not be returning to Gulf Shores in 2026, as the festival has officially been canceled.
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On Monday evening, Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft announced that neither the Hangout Festival nor the Sand In My Boots Festival will be returning to Gulf Shores in 2026. “The Hangout Music Festival will not occur in 2026,” he said, via Al.com. “We will not have an event in 2026. We are already approving the event in 2027.”
The one-year takeover of the Sand In My Boots received an astounding reception from the community members and business owners of Gulf Shores. Consequently, Mayor Robert Craft wanted the Hangout Festival organizers to plan the return of SIMB or something like it in 2026.
A Late Approval Led to the 2026 Sand In My Boots Cancellation
Prior to the announcement of the cancellation, the city and the festival organizers needed to reach an extension agreement. That agreement didn’t come until July of 2025, and as a result, the organizers have had to cancel, given the lack of time to book artists and plan logistics.
Regarding the organizer’s reasoning, Craft stated, “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.” “We will refuse to let them go back to the acts that we’ve had before. So they couldn’t do it, and so they canceled the 2026 event.”
“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,” concluded Mayor Robert Craft.
Sand In My Boots will not return to Gulf Shores in 2026. However, per Craft’s comments, it seems they are currently gearing up for 2027.
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for Morgan Wallen’s One Night At A Time 2024
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