Major Music Festival Planned In Gulf Shores

The owner of the popular Hangout Restaurant and Bar in Gulf Shores wants to sponsor a world-class music festival next May...and he's putting up three million dollars of his own money to make it happen. Shaul Zislin wants to bring big name performers to the Hangout for the Hangout Festival. Restaurant managers say the concert event would not cost the city or taxpayers any money and could generate much-needed local revenue.

"Definitely putting Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and the Gulf Coast on the map itself," says Jim Aicone of the Hangout. "A lot of people don't even realize there are beaches in Alabama and now you're going to have one of the biggest and best musical festivals in the nation right here in our backyard."

The Hangout Music Festival could draw more than 30-thousand people. The Hangout staff says the event would outshine Bayfest in downtown Mobile and would rival national concert venues.

"It'd be a tremendous asset for us," says Mike Foster with the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. "He's talking 25 to 30 thousand tickets, that means bringing in over 30-thousand people to town, quick calculation, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of about 40-thousand room nights, that's an amazing impact on this area."

The Gulf Shores City Council likes the idea. When final plans are approved, tickets could go on sale in January.