May brings a noticeable shift along the Gulf Coast. Students count down the final days of the school year, weekend beach traffic builds on the roads to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and rising temperatures signal that summer’s dog days are not far off. The May 2024 events calendar made the most of the last comfortable weeks of spring with a hot air balloon festival in Foley, a fly-fishing gathering at Gulf State Park, the Fairhope Rotary Steak Cookoff, Feeding the Gulf Coast’s Chef Challenge and the Hangout Music Festival on the Gulf Shores beach. This look back revisits those five highlights and a restaurateur’s reflections on the region’s changing fortunes.
The old saying that April showers bring May flowers originated in England, but on the Gulf Coast the azaleas and magnolias are usually well along by the time May arrives. What May really brings here is a sense of transition, and the month’s events reflected that, balancing community fundraisers with one of the region’s biggest tourism weekends.
Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival at OWA
The month opened May 2 through 4 with the Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival at OWA Parks and Resort in Foley. Named the 2021 Event of the Year by the Alabama Department of Tourism, the festival offered entertainment and arts and crafts displays on the festival grounds each day, with balloon flights, balloon glows and tethered rides at dawn and dusk, weather permitting. Admission was free.
Balloon pilots prefer the calm air of early morning and early evening, which is why the flights and glows bookend each festival day. The glows, when tethered balloons fire their burners after dark and light up like giant lanterns, are often the most photographed moments of the weekend.
OWA, developed by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and opened in 2017, combines an amusement park, a water park, shops, restaurants and open event space off the Foley Beach Express, and the balloon festival has become one of its signature events.
Gulf Coast Classic Fly Fishing Festival
On May 3 and 4, the 2nd Annual Gulf Coast Classic fly-fishing festival was held at the Learning Campus at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores. The program included seminars on locations, tactics, target species, conservation programs and fly tying, as well as the Mixed Bag Challenge, which was free with Classic registration.
Guide services, fly tackle suppliers, two fly-fishing publications, local and regional artists and several fly-fishing and conservation organizations from across the region set up exhibits, and many of the area’s top fly tiers demonstrated their favorite patterns.
The event reflects growing interest in fly fishing along the Alabama coast, where anglers target redfish, speckled trout and other inshore species in the shallow bays and marshes. Gulf State Park, with its lakes, beaches and nearby back bays, offers an ideal base for an event that pairs instruction with conservation.
Fairhope Rotary Steak Cookoff
On May 11, the 2024 Fairhope Rotary Steak Cookoff set up on North Bancroft Street in downtown Fairhope. Known as “Fairhope’s Premier Street Party,” the event brought 34 cook teams together to compete for awards, including People’s Choice honors decided by votes from the projected crowd of more than 3,000.
Teams grilled Piggly Wiggly steaks for guests to sample booth by booth, with live music and a family-friendly atmosphere. Children 12 and under were admitted free. Like other Rotary fundraisers, the cookoff supports the club’s service projects in the community.
Feeding the Gulf Coast Chef Challenge
On May 16, the 24th Annual Chef Challenge, Feeding the Gulf Coast’s annual fundraiser, was held at the Mobile Convention Center. Sponsored by MCG Workforce Solutions, the evening brought together some of the area’s most celebrated chefs and restaurants for food and drink, live entertainment by Roman Street and a large silent auction.
The event’s purpose is to help end hunger along the central Gulf Coast. Feeding the Gulf Coast is the regional food bank serving communities in south Alabama, south Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, distributing food through a network of partner pantries, shelters and programs. Guests had to be 21 or older, and both individual tickets and reserved tables were available.
Hangout Music Festival on the Gulf Shores Beach
The month’s largest event came May 17 through 19, when the Hangout Music Festival returned to the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores. The festival first took place in May 2010 with fewer than 15,000 daily attendees and grew quickly, with attendance eventually capped at 40,000 daily tickets. After a two-year hiatus, it returned in 2022.
Beyond the music, festivalgoers could enjoy beach volleyball, a roller disco, a Ferris wheel, a tropical spa and other activities, with dozens of restaurants serving food and drinks all three days. A variety of ticket packages were available.
The 2024 edition turned out to be the last Hangout before a change of direction. In 2025, its May weekend was taken over by Sand In My Boots, a new festival curated by country star Morgan Wallen.
A Restaurateur’s View of Alabama’s Cities
The May 2024 roundup was accompanied by a note from Charles Morgan, whose restaurant group includes Chuck’s Fish, Dharma Blue and Harbor Docks. Morgan wrote that he was part of a group that would soon have six restaurants in Alabama, and he offered a broad view of how the state’s cities were changing.
He credited Birmingham with developing into a city known for great restaurants in the 40 years since Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar and Grill opened, and said Huntsville had “been on a roll for over two decades.” He noted that Montgomery, through the work of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative, had become the hub of civil rights tourism in the state.
Morgan singled out Mobile and Tuscaloosa as cities that had “provided templates on how cities can exceed all expectations.” In Mobile, he credited David Bronner, Sen. Richard Shelby, Mayor Sandy Stimpson and University of South Alabama President Jo Bonner with helping drive a revitalization that included a new airport, riverfront development, growth at the Port of Mobile and plans for the university.
He argued that city leaders face a different set of issues than state and federal officials, writing that “job growth and training, safe streets, vibrant communities, great schools, parks, and recreation centers are the issues that cities need to address.” He also pointed to the remarkable redevelopment of downtown Pensacola and to the American Magic sailing team’s 10-year commitment to make Pensacola its home port, and said entrepreneurs were “popping up throughout the coastal communities.”
Planning Ahead
Most of these events are annual, though dates, venues and formats change, and the Hangout’s replacement by Sand In My Boots shows how quickly the landscape can shift. Anyone planning to attend a future balloon festival, fly-fishing Classic, steak cookoff or Chef Challenge should check with organizers for current details. May on the Gulf Coast rewards early planning and an early start before the heat of the day.