The 12th Annual BayFest Music Festival is sure to delight music lovers this fall. The festival, to be held October 6-8, 2006 will feature artists Lynyrd Skynyrd, Al Green, Michael Bolton, Gretchen Wilson, Patti LaBelle, Little Big Town, Charlie Wilson, Gary Allan, Shinedown and Keith Anderson.
But that's just for starters. BayFest will host over 100 national, regional and local artists who will perform on nine separate stages over the three-day weekend.
You can get your weekend pass for BayFest on their web site. After Labor Day tickets will be available at area Compass, Regions, and AmSouth banks. Full weekend passes are $35. Single day passes are $25, and can be purchased at the gate. Children under 12 get in free when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult.
Records continue to fall all along the Alabama Gulf Coast as yet another fishing tournament meets with outstanding success. This year's Alabama Deep See Fishing Rodeo saw several records broken.
Anglers in last weekend's Orange Beach Billfish Classic turned in record numbers of huge fish. The great fishing off shore in the Gulf of Mexico continues. Look for even more records to fall in this weekend's Conde Cavalier Mardi Gras Fishing Tournament which will be held on nearby Dauphin Island (across Mobile Bay from Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan) at the Dauphin Island Marina.
The Orange Beach Billfish Classic gets started today with final registration and the captains meeting at the Orange Beach Marina.
The captains meeting is set for 5:30pm at Mangos Restaurant. Boats may leave after signing out at the registration table, but may not leave earlier than 9pm, when kits and tournament designator packages will be distributed. Registration forms must be filled out completely before a boat departs the marina.
Fishing begins at 5:30am on Friday morning. All lines must be out of the water at 4pm Saturday unless a fish which has already been reported to a committee boat is still being fought. Boats must pass under Perdido Pass Bridge no later than 8pm Saturday.
Get ready for it. Whether you're just visiting Alabama's Gulf Coast, vacationing in a Gulf Shores condo for a week or looking to invest in a vacation rental property on the Gulf Coast, you'll be paying more - a lot more - for insurance.
Fewer and fewer companies remain in the market to sell Gulf Coast vacation property owners insurance for their condos or vacation homes. Those that do remain are charging much more to insure against storm damage.
With the prices of Gulf Shores real estate escalating as they are and the ever increasing demand from Alabama Gulf Coast vacationers the daily, weekly and monthly prices for vacation rentals is about to rise significantly.
Seafood and southern cooking is at its best along Alabama's Gulf Coast. The unfortunately reality is the really good places are just not big enough to handle the summer crush of vacationers and visitors looking for one of those tasty meals.
Gulf Shores and neighboring Orange Beach visitors and vacationers are finding long wait times for restaurant seating this summer. Be prepared. Either rearrange your dining schedule for an early or a later meal. If you show up during prime time you may end up having a later meal anyway.
The results of this year's Mobile Big Game Fishing Club's junior angler tournament at Orange Beach are in. Gex Billups won the top club member award aboard the Gaynel. He also took runner up honors in the Catch and Release category. The winner in the Catch and Release category was Kelly Gray on the Gotta Go.
Here are the full Results for the tournament.