Gulf Shores Events & Festivals
Explore the activities happening along the Alabama Gulf Coast and decide how you want to spend your holiday. You can be as busy as you want. With plenty of events and activities offered there’s something for everyone. Festivals, plays, music, history, sports and nature are just some of the wide variety of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores events you can find year-round. Discover a whole new level of options when you visit Alabama's white-sand beaches.
Fancy being part of a raucous Mardi Gras celebration? LuLu’s restaurant hosts an annual Mardi Gras event every February. It always has great music, food, drinks and costumes galore.
For the car enthusiasts and fresh seafood lovers, the Orange Beach Seafood Festival and Car Show, a day long celebration during February, might just be the ticket.
For fine arts lovers, the annual Orange Beach Arts Festival is a must-experience event in March. You can see hundreds of artists and partake in artist in residence observation sessions to see the only glass blower on the north Gulf Coast and the new pottery studio. Set on the shores of Wolf Bay, this unique festival is a crowd pleaser.
Parrot Heads unite at this annual gathering honouring Jimmy Buffet, big brother to Lucy Buffet, owner of LuLu’s restaurant end of March. A rockin’ good time is a good bet.
The Wharf in Orange Beach has its C-Spire Wireless Concert Series every year that fills their 10,000 seat outdoor amphitheater with evening concerts from March to October. Many of these are country music performers.
The Hangout Music Festival in May is a HUGE event, drawing 40,000 music lovers every May each year for a 3-day beach concert with music on 5 different stages.
SummerTide Theatre from The University of Alabama brings their student performance group to Gulf Shores for a month every June to rehearse, produce and run a professional musical performance. These are always a hit with residents and visitors. Many of these students go onto careers on Broadway in the West End in New York City.
June every year also brings the Flora-Bama Shindig on the Sand, a 3-day beach concert featuring more than 60 Gulf Coast area bands and performers. A great, casual beach concert experience.
Also in June is the 'Funnest' Fishing Tournament on the Gulf Coast, the Flora-Bama Fishing Rodeo is the "Every Mans" fishing rodeo! Just like the lounge, you don't have to be a VIP to fish there. Categories will range from catfish to bill fish and everything in-between. The tournament is held at the Flora-Bama Yacht Club across the street from the world famous Flora-Bama Lounge. The FBFR is a 3-day Captains Choice tournament with anglers competing for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in 30 categories. Accompanying the tournament is a 3-day beach party and awards ceremony that will include daily weigh-ins with fish viewing area, live music, great food and hospitality done in true Flora-Bama fashion!
July marks the annual Blue Marlin Grand Championship at The Wharf where 50+ fishing boats compete for $1-million in prizes to catch the biggest deep water fish from the Gulf of Mexico. Gather for the weigh-ins, partake in fashion shows, food offerings and a whole lot of fishing stories! This is a capstone event for deep water fishing tournaments along the Gulf Coast every year.
The annual Wharf Uncorked wine and culinary festival showcasing wines, restaurants and well-known chefs. A great September autumn event!
The annual Alabama Coastal BirdFest is an immersion experience in bird watching, seminars and trips into the wild to experience it all up close. Set every October this draws visitors from all over the country.
The annual October National Shrimp Festival is the largest event of the year. This 3-day event celebrates all things shrimp, coastal, arts and musical. About 250,000 people attend the 10am-10pm event over the 3-days.
The Frank Brown Songwriters festival is a 10-day event available every year in November. This provides an intimate look and listen to the stories behind how a song came into being. A very engaging, casual and wonderful event that offers music genres of all kinds, but with an emphasis on country music.
For more details on any of these events visit gulfshores.com or email alabama@deep-south-usa.com.
