Show Review of the Month Ballyhoo Festival

November 2025, by Brenda Flynn

Ballyhoo Festival 
Location: Gulf Shores, AL 
Dates: March 1-2, 2025 
Contact: Paula Powell 
Website: ballyhoofestival.com 
Email: ballyhoofestival@gmail.com 
Phone: 318-218-7673 
Venue: 100% outdoors 
Space fees: $250 to $475 
Exhibitors: 110 

ARTIST REVIEW 
Medium: Mixed media, paper mosaic 

The Ballyhoo Festival had fun written all over it. If you fish, you know a ballyhoo is a baitfish used to catch much larger saltwater fish. 

But it also means excited commotion. And that is what I saw when I exhibited at the 11th Ballyhoo Festival in March. 

The show featured fine art and craft from throughout the Southeast, lots of local seafood, fiddle and banjo competitions, live music, and cultural Native American dancing and singing. If you exhibit at this festival, go a day early and visit the Indian and Sea Museum in nearby Orange Beach, Alabama, not to mention the gorgeous natural dunes and sugar sand beaches in Gulf Shores. 

The festival was held in the Lake Shelby Picnic area of Gulf State Park (the GPS address is 20110 State Park Road, AL-135, Gulf Shores). Booths were set up on grass and asphalt, and there was plenty of room. 

You could drive to load-in and move your vehicle after unloading — at a leisurely pace. Vendor parking was within walking distance. 

Load-in was in shifts on Friday, the day before the festival began. Those with last names starting with A-M were from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and those with last names starting with N-Z from 2-6 p.m. The festival’s hours were 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. 

This juried fine arts show had $6,000 in awards. There were two judges, both with an extensive background in fine arts and fine crafts. Both visited my booth, introduced themselves, shook my hand, and inquired about the process of my art. That alone was delightful! 

The exhibition packet included a laminated booth card, laminated name tag with lariat, the details for filing taxes in Alabama, and information about the area. It was in a small reusable bag. 

I must admit I have always been a sucker for giveaways. All weekend, you could visit the hospitality tent for breakfast (homemade biscuits and gravy, coffee all day, fruit, granola bars, and Krispy Crème doughnuts) and snacks all day, including water, soda, and sports drinks. Judging for the awards began at 10 a.m. Saturday. 

Sounds heavenly, right? Well, a couple of things were different from the numerous festivals I have done during my 28 years of exhibiting. 

First, you had to obtain a Baldwin County Business License before you arrived at the festival. It costs $32 and renews once a year. Email sspears@bladwincountyal.gov to request one. 

You had to pay the Baldwin County city sales tax before leaving on Sunday. The three forms were in your packet. They accepted cash or checks — no credit cards. 

The good news is it was only 3%. Combined tax rates were 10% (that is what you had to charge through your credit card processing company). State and county taxes must also be filed, which can be done online. 

The other little bugaboo was you had to fill out a background consent form and submit it online prior to acceptance into the festival. This state of Alabama requirement was for artists only. 

Now, for the big one — sales. I cannot report my own sales were anything but disappointing. I do coastal art, but in a whimsical folk-art style. I was not well-rewarded, but it is a hit or miss thing with my artwork. 

There were three oil/acrylic painters who did quite well on both originals and prints. Their prices were reasonable ($250+), and their booths were occupied most of the day on Saturday. 

One artist I spoke with said Sundays are always better, but we had maybe 1,000 people come the entire day. The foot traffic was significantly reduced from last year. 

Many artists complained it might be the political climate, or perhaps the weather may have been a factor (chillier than normal). Other events going on were Mardi Gras parades in nearby cities, but those were in the evening. 

No one I spoke with could put their finger on the cause of the slow foot traffic or the decline in sales from two years prior. Many of the returning or long-time artists made their money on return customers. 

What sold the most? It was outdoor art (garden art), pet products, fine jewelry, and large coastal paintings. What did not seem to sell at all? Woodworking, handmade clothing, and ethnic art were in that category. 

As for other aspects of this festival, the weather was incomparable. It was a little chilly in the mornings but quite warm in the afternoons. 

It turned a bit windy on Sunday, but with a lake in the front and the ocean in the back, it was bound to. If you participate in this show, put extra weights on your tent. 

The volunteers and park staff were fantastic! They were outgoing, friendly, and would help with anything you needed. They were in constant contact with everyone, with their phone numbers supplied if you needed a break or help getting food, etc. And there were lots of food trucks! 

At 3:45 p.m. Sunday, you could reduce your inventory and personal items. However, you could not break your tent down early. Doing so would violate their insurance policies, and it was enforced. 

There were a couple of people wanting to break everything down and leave early Sunday afternoon. They were advised to stop, so they just unrolled their canvas. You could drive your vehicle in at 4 p.m. 

The festival has a Golden Rule — kindness is always the best policy. It might have been a disappointing show for some. 

In the end, I enjoyed my whole show, met lots of new people (I got quite a few website sales after the show,) and connected with artists I never met before. 

My hotel was gorgeous and comfortable. I treated the whole weekend as a vacation — and felt so much better for it.