Countdown to BayFest

Jul 14th, 2006

MOBILE, AL- The 12th Annual BayFest Music Festival will be held October 6, 7, & 8, 2006 in the streets of Downtown Mobile. BayFest will host over 100 artists of national, regional and local status to play on eight stages over the three-day and night weekend. With acts to reach each genre of musical taste, and a wonderful entertaining children’s area, there is truly something for everyone.

BayFest, Inc. is a 501©3 not-for-profit corporation that relies completely on sponsorships and ticket sales to bring this world-class, family-friendly musical experience to the City of Mobile for an advanced weekend price of just $35. This event promotes tourism for the Mobile area in a big way! A recent study finds that BayFest has generated an economic impact in excess of $100 million dollars over the past 11 years! Last year, for the first time ever, customers could purchase tickets on-line at www.bayfest.com and received purchases from all over the Untied States. Some of the states represented were: Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Connecticut, Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, Michigan, New Jersey, Colorado, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Wisconsin and New York.

As a nonprofit organization, BayFest is dependent upon volunteers (more than 1000, making it the largest local volunteer effort in the area), sponsors and public support in order to survive. Outdoor festivals such as BayFest often do not turn a profit; however, when and if the festival does so, all of the money goes back into the festival.

With the wide range of musical genres Bayfest has available on 8 different stages, it is no surprise that in recent years, BayFest has drawn an estimated annual crowd of between 150,000 and 225,000 people. Coastal Living Magazine named Bayfest Music Festival one of the “10 Fabulous Fall Festivals on the Coast”. Southeast Tourism Society has named it one of the “Top Twenty Events in the Southeast” numerous times and Mobile Bay Monthly says “Bayfest surpasses Mardi Gras as the City’s Largest Event”.

This year we hope to bring even more music lovers to the streets of downtown Mobile!

BayFest’s line up has included many of the biggest names in the music business. Previous years have featured performances by artists such as: B.B. King, Widespread Panic, Kenny Chesney, Kool & The Gang, Lee Ann Womack, Dwight Yoakam, Neal McCoy, Trapt, American Idol’s Rubin Studdard and Bo Bice, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, 3 Doors Down, Keith Urban, Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Beach Boys, Collective Soul, Ludacris, The Village People, Creed, 3 Days Grace, The Commodores, Seether, Stone Temple Pilots, Bobby “Blue” Bland…and many, many more.

BayFest is a notable community event that plans to continue to grow and lure newcomers to experience what the Gulf Coast has to offer.

For more information or to get directions, please visit www.bayfest.com or call 251.208.7835.