Hangout Attendees Not Worried About Oil

In some sense this music festival can been seen as a sort of tourism bellwether, as thousands of people flock to this area for the festival not many of them are thinking about the oil slick.

“Not at all, there's no oil out here it's a long way off no smell no nothing,” says Jeff Dinkel from Atlanta. He's quick to remind me there's not a whole lot of talk about when it comes to the oil spill around here. The talk this weekend is about the music--and the thousands of people spending money to see it.

“Even if the ecosystem is messed up we want to keep the economic system going for sure, says Linda Clark from Natchitoches, Louisiana. Gates opened at noon and Brooke Walding from Mobile was one of the first people through the door.

“I just want to check Everything out, I came down here yesterday, like everything was so awesome, out on the beach and I wanted to check it out as soon as I could,” says Brooke. A lot of people at the festival hope it showcases both great music and beaches that are still in good shape despite the looming oil slick.

“I think it's really going to do a lot for us, there's a lot with the oil spill right now, but I think this is going to bring us a lot of business and tourism, it's awesome,” says Walding. An added bonus to the many people attending is that proceeds go to coastal preservation and cleanup as 20,000 are expected to hit this festival for the three day period, during the three day period.