Ballyhoo Festival celebrates six years as a Fine Arts and Crafts Festival promoting cultural exchange on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Ballyhoo is presented by the Gulf Coast Arts Alliance, a nonprofit entity in Gulf Shores. This is a family friendly event with fine art vendors, live music, delicious food, performances by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Fiddle and Banjo Competitions in partnership with the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival and Flora-Bama, hands-on children's activities and more! The Ballyhoo Festival will feature 80 great vendors with a wide variety of original art portrayed in paintings, pottery, jewelry, metal art, wood carving, textile art and mixed media. The event will be in Gulf Shores at Gulf State Park, 20115 State Hwy. 135 Gulf Shores, just across from the sparkling waters of the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. The event will take place March 7 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will continue March 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no admission fee.

Ballyhoo Festival Day One - Saturday, March 7

Ballyhoo Festival will begin Saturday, March 7, at 9 a.m. Saturday will be a day full of fine art displays, children’s activities, live music by Gulf Coast musicians, along with original tribal dances performed by the Poarch Creek Indians and more! Local vocalist and guitarist Destiny Brown will kick-off the festival at 9 a.m.-10 a.m. followed by Brent Burns 10 a.m.-11 a.m. The Poarch Creek Indians will debut their first original tribal dance of the day from 11 a.m.-noon The Band Rex will continue the live music extravaganza from noon-2 p.m. followed by Light Travelers 2 p.m.-4 p.m. The Poarch Creek Indians will end the day with the final performance of their original tribal dance from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. The event will resume Sunday, March 8, at 11 a.m.

Ballyhoo Festival Day Two - Sunday, March 8

The Ballyhoo Festival will continue Sunday, March 8, expanding the essence of cultural exchange with an Early Americana flare starting at 11 a.m. A Fiddle and Banjo Competition will take place starting at noon and competitors will begin warming up at 11 a.m. The judges of the competition will perform at 2 p.m. The competition will continue until 5 p.m. The fine art and food vendors will be on-site throughout the day and there will be a plethora of hands-on activities for children to enjoy. Ballyhoo is a juried fine arts event with $2,500 in cash prizes awarded to artists and $1500.00 in cash prizes to fiddle and banjo competitors.

Ballyhoo Parking and Shuttles

Ballyhoo Festival will have a pickup site at the Gulf State Pavilion. Bus rides will be $2.00 both ways and children under 10 will ride for free. The shuttles will run from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 7 and from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, March 8.