Morgan Wallen's Sand in My Boots Festival Cancelled for 2026 - But Door Left Open for 2027 Return

After months of speculation, the Mayor of Gulf Shores, Robert Craft, has confirmed Morgan Wallen's wildly popular Sand in My Boots Festival will not be returning in 2026.

The genre-blurring extravaganza drew in swathes of fans at its inaugural instalment this summer, with attendees witnessing electrifying performances from Wallen, Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn, Bailey Zimmerman, BigXthaPlug, Riley Green and more.

Sand in My Boots replaced the much-maligned Hangout Festival, which had previously taken place in the same location and faced criticism for attracting crowd misbehaviour.

After such a successful first edition, fans were hoping Sand in My Boots might become a permanent fixture of the country calendar, but Craft has officially confirmed it will not be happening in 2026. He has, though, left the door open for a 2027 return.

During a city council meeting, Craft has underlined, “We are already approving the event in 2027. 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 and so they couldn’t do it”.

He goes on, “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”.

Earlier in the year, the council had agreed to a one-year extension for Sand in My Boots Festival, providing they could bring in a line-up that would attract a similar crowd to this year, “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”.

Craft explained at the time that he believed the country-leaning line-up, compared to the more mainstream roster of Hangout Fest, was the key factor in bringing in a better behaved a slightly older audience, “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”. The 2024 Hangout Fest line-up, for instance, included Lana Del Rey, Zach Bryan, Odesza, The Chainsmokers, Cage the Elephant, Dominike Fike, Reneé Rapp and more.

Given this, although not stated explicitly, it sounds like the Sand in My Boots promoter - AEG Presents - had been planning a line-up that deviated too much from the country world.

It's worth highlighting that the 2025 Sand in My Boots Festival was not strictly country, with rappers BigXthaPlug, Wiz Khalifa, T-Pain and Moneybagg Yo on the bill, along with EDM star Diplo. Indie bands The War on Drugs and 3 Doors Down also featured.

But perhaps the proposed 2027 roster was even more of a departure from the country-leaning space that Craft seemingly desired, in order to avoid a repeat of Hangout Festival.

It's undoubtedly a shame, as the appeal of Sand in My Boots - aside from being a celebratory haven for Wallen aficionados - was the genre-blurring nature of the line-up. Craft's words have, however, made it clear that Hangout Fest is off the table, while there is a possibility of Sand in My Boots making a triumphant return in 2027.

For more on Morgan Wallen, see below: