STOCKTON, Ala. — The executive producer of an upcoming music festival has announced that festival organizers will donate $1 million worth of festival tickets to workers involved in the cleanup of the Gulf oil spill.

Rick Shell, who tried to get his Festival of Musicians permitted in Foley for spring break, said ticket distribution to oil spill cleanup workers will be done in two ways, namely, direct distribution and through “will-call passes online” at FestivalofMusicians.com.                

The Festival of Musicians, billed by Shell as “5 Days of Peace Love & Music,” will be held at Baldwin County Bicentennial Park near Stockton from July 8-12. The festival was granted a temporary permit by Foley City Council earlier this year, a permit that was eventually withdrawn by city fathers when a number of concerns related to the event could not be dealt with in time for spring break.

Shell’s plan then was to have the festival at a site on the Foley Beach Express. Attendance numbers he projected for the music event – 5,000 to 30,000 – created concerns and complaints from residents living in proximity to the event site.

With the Festival of Musicians now planned for the new Bicentennial Park, Shell said event organizers got inspiration for the ticket donation from the late Bob Hope and USO’s entertainment of American troops during times of war and other crisis.

Shell said those battling the oil spill work hard and many of them are far from home and not getting much rest and relaxation.

“That’s no way to fight a battle,” Shell said in a news release on June 4.

“We … have been discussing different ways we might be able to help with the cleanup effort and realized the best thing we could offer is the thing we have an abundance of, great entertainment.”

“If I had 5,000 people there I’d be okay,” Shell said during a telephone interview last week, adding that if 5,000 attended the event he could make back the money he has spent on producing and promoting the festival.

“I need a crowd so that the kudos thing works out,” he said. “I’d like to have 20,000.”

 Kudos, as Shell explains them, are the way that festival goers show their appreciation for the bands and individuals who perform during the Festival of Musicians’ non-stop music venues. A person would give kudos for a performance they thought was noteworthy, and the musician(s), in return, would be able to turn the kudos in for cash when the festival is complete.

Music acts from all over the country will participate in the Festival of Musicians, according to Shell, and will represent such musical genres as rock, reggae, country, blues, Americana, jazz, folk, punk, bluegrass and “just about any other thing you can think of.”

“This is different from any other music festival you have ever attended,” Shell said. “We try to let everyone start out on equal footing, and every band, singer, songwriter has a shot at headliner status. The audience decides who the biggest stars are.”

Shell said the Festival of Musicians is “not about prima donnas” but is as “grassroots as it gets. There’s never been anything like it.”

On the festival website is a link for “Oil Spill Cleanup Assistance,” Shell said, and oil spill cleanup workers can access passes there.

“We do ask that people try to carpool in groups to avoid overloading parking facilities, not to mention saving gas,” Shell said.