The Hangout Beach, Music & Arts Festival
Region: Southeast
Type: Festival
"The inaugural Hangout Beach, Music & Arts Festival will be held May 14-16 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The first ever large-scale festival on the beach will be open each day from noon to 11pm and will feature an eclectic lineup of 60-plus artists over three days of sun-soaking festival fun unlike any other event. The festival will include four stages with the two main stages rising from the sand itself. Attendance will be limited to 35,000 people per day. "—Description by festival
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GULF SHORES, Ala. -- In October 2007, Shaul Zislin, who owns three corners at the main intersection here, approached city leaders and told them that he wanted to open a vast restaurant and entertainment venue, not the soaring condo towers that he had once planned by the public beach.
His preference remained the $400 million high-rise concept that had been hatched and approved in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, he told them. The hitch: "I just need a buyer, or hundreds of buyers."
The change was a bold about-face.
After Ivan cleared the slate for redevelopment, Gulf Shores expected substantial progress in transforming its central beach area into a pedestrian- and skyscraper-dominated downtown.
Five years later, many tracts slated for the makeover sit shrouded in foreclosure, sprouting weeds.
