In a tent outside the hangout at Gulf Shores on Wednesday morning, dozens of parrothead volunteers stuffed goody bags for the thousands more parrotheads converging on the town, and the smooth assembly line process ran without pause. Almost.

But the workers had a live soundtrack from singer-songwriter Isabella Stefania, because when Parrot Heads in Paradise (PHiP) holds its annual Meeting of The Minds, the participants don’t do anything without music – the music of Jimmy Buffett specifically, or other artists in the “trop rock” genre inspired by him. And so when Stefania played “Margaritaville,” each and every time she came around to the line about a lost shaker of salt, the bag-stuffing came to a stop — just long enough for the volunteers to chant “Salt! Salt! Salt!” – and then ticked on.

Outside the tent, Jim Brogren kept an eye on the proceedings and fielded questions from volunteer event staff. For Brogren, PHiP’s Midwest regional coordinator and the president of its charitable arm, the Lone Palm Foundation, all this was both familiar and new.

The annual Meeting of The Minds, a convergence of PHiP chapters from all over the country, has long taken place in Key West. But over a year ago, organizers announced a move: The familiar site in Key West was undergoing extensive renovations and another suitable venue in the area wasn’t available, they said, so the 2023 event would be held in Gulf Shores.

Then on Sept. 1, Buffett died. That makes this Meeting of The Minds the first event of its kind since the passing of the man who inspired the whole parrothead fan base to dream of escaping to exotic, beachy locales suitably supplied with rum. That has put a different spin on things. The gathering will include several tributes, including a big one planned for Wednesday evening at The Hangout.

“There’s going to be many tears tonight, I expect,” said Brogren. “There’s already been tears. We’ve had a roller-coaster of emotion the last few months.”

“We’re going to fill this place up with bubbles,” he said, a reference to a new song that has become especially poignant in the wake of Buffett’s passing, “Bubbles Up.”

The move presented logistical challenges, not least of which is that the event’s three main venues – The Hangout and LuLu’s in Gulf Shores, plus Flora-Bama Lounge & Package in Orange Beach – are not within walking distance of each other. A shuttle service helps bridge the gaps, Brogren said. And support from local officials and agencies such as Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism has been extraordinary, he said.

“The people of Gulf Shores have been wonderful,” he said. “They really rolled out the red carpet for us.”

Most of the day’s musical programming would come with the afternoon and evening. But down at the Flora-Bama, things were already in full swing, with Wes Loper, Ryan Balthrop and Kelly McGuire playing to a crowd of 100 or more people at a small beach stage, as a heavy surf driven by strong winds provided a sparkling backdrop.

McGuire, who’s based in Texas and who is a major artist within the trop-rock genre, played a song titled “Blame it on Buffett,” about the way Jimmy Buffett had served as a pied piper for himself and so many others. Introducing another tune, he said, “I’m gonna need the Flora-Bama Tabernacle Choir to help me out on this next chorus.”

McGuire said he played the Flora-Bama’s Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival more than 20 years ago, and praised the late Joe Gilchrist for his willingness to support a young, unknown singer-songwriter. Since then he’s played the Meeting of the Minds many times.

Balthrop and Loper are from the Mobile area. Both know the Flora-Bama’s stages extremely well – Loper was performing on one of them when The Great Flora-Bama Bra Avalanche of 2021 happened – and both have performed at Meetings of The Minds over the years.

That left all three uniquely qualified to talk about what it meant to have the world of PHiP and the world of the Flora-Bama colliding.

“It’s kind of like a marriage of your favorite two cousins,” said Loper, laughing.

On a more serious note, he said, it was like a long-overdue payback. “This is the first time I’ve been able to host a show,” he said. “Down in Key West, Kelly had his own show. So I’m hosting them now. It’s nice to be able to host your friends who’ve been hosting you for so long. They’re sleeping on my couch, they’re partying in my living room.”

McGuire said that parrotheads aren’t just fans of a certain type of music. They’ve become a whole ecosystem for it. Parrotheads across the country host house concerts on backyard stages, giving him and other trop-rock artists the opportunity to tour the country playing for people who listen to the songs and appreciate the stories behind them. It’s like a more tropical-flavored version of what goes on in the folk-music world, he said.

That puts the parrotheads close to the singer-songwriter ethos celebrated at the Flora-Bama in general and the Frank Brown fest in particular, whether they know it or not. And Loper said if he has anything to do say about it, they’ll come away knowing it. He gestured at Flora-Bama regular J. Hawkins, who was waiting to take the stage after Balthrop.

“I’m trying to marry the two, and expose all these people who, some of these people have never been here before, this has brought them here for the first time, and it won’t be their last if I have any say it,” Loper said. “Here’s J. Hawkins. He’s a legend. They don’t know about J. Hawkins. They’re about to find out, though.”

McGuire said he had a selfish reason for appreciating the event’s move to Gulf Shores: It made for a much shorter drive from Houston.

“Honestly it might end up being better than Key West, in a lot of ways” he said. “The beach is beautiful here. You don’t see the beach in Key West. You’re in a bar everywhere.”

“It means the world to me” to have the fan base coming together on this occasion, he said. “Because we’re the legacy of Jimmy Buffett. He affected people in a lot of different ways. I can’t think of anyone who has affected so many lifestyles.”

Buffett’s particular blend of tropical escapism had a unique power to move people, McGuire said.

Brogren agreed – naturally so, since he was surrounded by those people.

“We have doctors, lawyers, retired people, factory workers, we have everything,” he said. “So many people are just into that tropical lifestyle he exuded, that escapism. It really is a little bit of everybody.”

Brogren said Wednesday that preliminary events had already begun: At a kickoff event Tuesday at LuLu’s, Jimmy Buffett’s sister Lucy had joined the visitors. But he expected the real surge in registration to start Thursday morning, with the event’s biggest days coming on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

A portion of the activities associated with the Meeting of the Minds, including most of the performances and other events at the Hangout, were open only to registered attendees. But the Flora-Bama, Lulu’s and other participating venues would remain open to the public throughout, he said.

A full schedule of events can be found at motm.rocks. Brogren said people interesting in attending could register on site, becoming members of the Virtual Parrot Head Club in the process. (General registration is $172.22.)

Brogren said he hoped people would understand that charity is a major focus for the organization. Through events such as a 5k and fun run on Saturday, a blood drive, raffles and other activities, organizers hoped to have a positive impact on their host community. He estimated the charitable impact of the event at $30,000 to $35,000.

“We like to have a good time but we like to do it responsibly,” he said. “And we raise a lot of money for charity along the way.”