The organisers of Georgia's small holiday spot and historically wild festivals known as the Orange Crush are gathering together to try to make this spring safer and more organized.
Orange Crush, a spring break event on Tybee Island, Georgia, once organized by students from nearby Savannah State University, brought “Full Mayhem” to Tybee Island in 2023, but Mayor Brian West said he is optimistic about a better event this year.
West held City Hall on Friday, March 21st, discussing community concerns about the event held in Tybee on Saturday, April 19th, and held discussions in the brief history of the Orange Crush.
West described how it began as a relatively small spring break gathering in 1989, but has since grown into a massive festival that local officials have struggled to control in recent years.
West previously explained to Fox News Digital that the Orange Crash of the past few years was “riot” with “stamping” and gunfights in city parking lots.
On Friday, West shared the town's extensive plans for coordinating traffic, parking and safety for both event attendees and local residents over the weekend of April 19th.
Orange Crush organizers Stephen Smalls and George Turner approached west in December and applied for their first permit from Tybee Island.
On January 29th, Tybee Island issued a conditional approval letter, and local officials have since met with organizers to discuss the plans.
On Thursday, Tybee Island gave special permission for the Orange Crush after negotiating a one-day event rather than a three-day event. There is also an agreed site plan that blocks access to parking on Tybee Island, which West said had caused some malicious activity in past Orange Crash events.
Participants can also borrow beach equipment and there will be a special VIP area this year, West said. Additionally, Tybee Island brings in additional police officers to enforce public safety.
Kia Waters, COO of New Heights Management, said they partnered with the orange crash organizer to organize the event more secure, efficient and more organized.
“We want to make sure the beach culture and cleanliness is maintained after the event,” Waters said.
“At the Welcome Centre, we want to make sure they know how important the island is and how important the city is. We want to know the history. We'll take a whole day to educate them,” Waters said, adding that they'll be enforced with the one-day event. “We're going to do a quick cleanup.”
Turner and Smalls have since assured locals that the event could be clean, safe and organized. The Smalls expressed optimism to work with city leaders to organize the first “official” Orange Crush on Tybee Island this spring.
The event is no longer affiliated with Savannah, but is expected to return to Tybee Island over Easter weekend and attract an estimated 50,000 participants to the three-mile-long island.
Since the event began in 1989, promoters have taken over the planning process with the goal of gaining more participants and more money. This transformed the orange crash into a wild weekend, according to the West, due to the normally quiet beach town.
Locals have previously advocated garbage, traffic issues and violence as a result of the party and the masses of the people it portrays. In the parking lot after sunset, participants will reach the top of the police car and engage in violent behavior, such as throwing glass bottles. Local leaders and law enforcement have been working to contain these issues to keep residents and Orange Crush participants as safe as possible.
“One of our officers got hit by the head with a bottle. It was a complete mayhem. So we had to close the parking lot and we had to make sure they weren't available,” the mayor previously told Fox News Digital The 2023 Orange Crush.
West previously expressed concern about approving permissions from promoters who gave urban issues at past Orange Crush events.
Smalls previously told Fox News Digital in a statement that his team “implemented a structured system to bring organization, security and entertainment to the event.”
“I have worked closely with Tybee Island officials to develop a strict plan for this year's festival, including Mayor Brian West, Tybee Island law enforcement and Savannah and other key stakeholders,” Smalls said. “Our team followed a strict schedule to ensure that all details were carefully organized and executed with safety and structure in mind.”
Smalls said the Orange Crush is “a long-standing tradition that occurs with or without permission,” but this year it's different because “for the first time the event is officially structured with security, waste management and traffic coordination.”
“We cannot control all the external promoters associated with the event, but we are the official organizers and take the necessary steps to bring accountability and order to the festival,” he continued. “If Tybee Island is concerned about certain individuals, we encourage consistent enforcement to all local businesses that have chosen to work with external promoters this weekend.”
Smalls asked, “Instead of rushing to judgement, the public should allow this newly organized Orange Crush Festival an opportunity to show the positive changes we have made.”
“This is a new era of events, and for the first time there is a clear plan of action to ensure that it is structured and managed properly,” he said.
In past events, festival promoters formed circles packed with people in the beaches and parking lots. There, attendees must pay to see what is happening within the circle.
“When officers suddenly try to control the situation, they're surrounded by 5,000 people,” West said. “Even if they try to arrest someone, our prison is an hour away in Savannah, so that means taking officers out of work and leaving us where we need them.
Tybee Island has a line of roads leading from the Savanna to the island, and the event attracts tens of thousands of people, leading to traffic disruptions including cars going to nearby islands to prevent them from reaching Tybee Island.
“It's very uncomfortable for people living in the area,” West said. “People actually drive other people's yards, which can really get out of hand.”
The city attempted to control traffic by closing certain parking lots and assigning personnel to direct cars, except for nearby Backstreets.
Tybee Island leaders closed the parking lot in 2024 and closed the parking lot in 2025. The city will also rent a pier on the beach so that law enforcement can use it during the event.
The Tybee Island police station usually has around 30 officers covering around 3,200 homes, so the city brings in other states and local officials over the Orange Crush weekend. Approximately 100-150 executives are expected for the April festival.
Participants from Orange Crush at past events are also scattered across parts of the beaches of Tybee Island, with trash in the sand and water.
In 2018, Tybee Island cracked down on new regulations over the Orange Crush weekend, including restrictions on open alcohol as Tybee is an open container city. Increased traffic stops and property search. Restrictions on housing rentals.
An activist group called Tybee officials was involved with the Department of Justice, complaining about the regulations. Eventually, the group and city leaders made mediation in July 2018.
The agreement states that Tybee applies the same rules and restrictions to all large events on the island, and equally applies “permitted or not allowed.”
