Orange Crush: Tybee officials plan crackdown on popular HBCU beach party

The outcry by residents contributed to the resignation of the city manager, a City Council resolution requesting a state law to curtail Orange Crush in the future, and the decision by the island’s first-term mayor not to seek reelection last November.

The fury has city officials finalizing preparations for the 2024 edition of Orange Crush, which is being promoted online for the weekend of April 20.

Tybee is taking a cue from Miami Beach, Florida, by borrowing measures that city took last month to “break up with spring break” after two years of partying turned violent at the Florida locale. Tybee will close two large beach parking lots, barricade entrances to residential areas, install license plate readers on the road leading to the island, narrow the main thoroughfare, U.S. 80, to one lane in each direction, and increase police presence by temporarily employing officers from state and other Savannah-area departments.

In addition, an interagency law enforcement group that has operated vehicle safety roadblocks at Tybee’s entrance on various days throughout the year has indicated it will conduct a check during the weekend.

Newly elected Mayor Brian West said the measures are aimed at Tybee “no longer being the location for Orange Crush.” He vowed to leverage Senate Bill 443, nuisance legislation signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp this week, to sue promoters of unpermitted events for damages.

“The residents are primary, and whenever they have to decide between leaving the island to get away from Orange Crush or staying in order to protect their property, that’s just awful to have to live with that,” West said.

Critics have labeled the plans as draconian and a violation of a 2018 agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice about regulating Orange Crush and similar large events. The DOJ deal was struck after a group of concerned Tybee residents filed a complaint against a local ordinance that banned alcohol and amplified music specifically on Orange Crush weekend.

Credit: SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO

Credit: SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO

Under the accord, Tybee cannot implement restrictions for Orange Crush not in place for other high-volume events catering to predominantly white crowds, such as the Tybee Irish Heritage Parade in March, Memorial Day in May, the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekend celebrations.

The leader of the concerned citizens group, community activist Julia Pearce, voiced disappointment in the city’s planned approach and said it is another example of an island populated by “old white people” choosing to criminalize young Black people. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Tybee is 94% white and 3.5% Black.

“Every weekend on Tybee in the summer is a mess; it’s loud and full of trash generated by mostly white visitors,” said Pearce, a Black woman who mounted a failed mayoral bid last year. “Locals aren’t in any danger during Orange Crush. Anytime you have a group that large, you have people doing things that aren’t appropriate.”

Asked about the DOJ agreement, West said last year’s violence and property crimes and the brazen attitude of Orange Crush promoters changed city leaders’ outlook.

“We have a right to protect ourselves,” said West, who served as a City Council member from 2021 to 2023.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia did not respond to a request for comment.

Founders: Tybee officials see a ‘Black blur’

Angst over Orange Crush stretches far beyond the 2023 chaos and the 2018 rancor over the special ordinances. Longtime residents say city officials have sought to crush the party by “wishing it away” since 1991, when Savannah State University cut ties with the event three years after it was first organized by the school’s student government leaders.

The original intent was to increase Savannah State’s profile across Georgia and neighboring states, said two Orange Crush founders, Kenneth Flowe and Ifekan Simon.

“We wanted Savannah State to be seen as relevant, and we thought a very public event would help with that,” Flowe said. “We looked for things that we had that other HBCUs around didn’t, and that was our being known as the college by the sea.”

Credit: SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO

Credit: SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO

But even when Orange Crush was a sanctioned event, one chaperoned by Savannah State administrators and faculty, the students sensed tension from residents and local public safety officials, Flowe and Simon said. They attribute the hostility to Tybee’s legacy as a whites-only beach that wasn’t desegregated until 1963 following a series of wade-in protests by young Black residents, including current Georgia House Rep. Edna Jackson, D-Savannah.

By 1991, Orange Crush’s reputation had spread across the South and was attracting a wide swath of young adults in much the same way as FreakNik in Atlanta, albeit on a smaller scale. As the crowds and traffic grew, so did the law enforcement presence and other efforts to contain the party. Fights, shootings, a drowning and a stabbing have marked Orange Crush gatherings throughout its history.

Flowe said Tybee officials have long seen Orange Crush as a “Black blur,” treating all participants as bad actors.

“Initially, you had students who would go on to be doctors, lawyers and engineers at the core of Orange Crush. That cadre was driven off because they weren’t willing to be treated poorly,” Flowe said. “What was left were those who said, ‘I’ll be damned if you’re going to keep me off the beach.’ ”

Pent-up interest in Orange Crush following a COVID-forced hiatus culminated in last year’s party and fallout. Traffic backed up for nearly 10 miles and the celebration spilled onto neighboring islands, home to 25,000 residents.

Tybee innkeeper Karen Kelly, whose bed and breakfast is a block from the beach, said she had to coax attendees to drive onto her property to let an ambulance answering an emergency call pass.

She recalls the response she received when seeking help from the lone police officer in her neighborhood.

“There’s nothing I can do, Ms. Kelly,” the officer told her. “We’ve lost control.”

Credit: SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO

Credit: SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO

Apprehension as 2024 dates approach

Tybee residents and business owners have expressed cautious confidence in the planned approach for this year. Island Police Chief Tiffany Hayes spent a March weekend in Miami Beach observing the city’s crackdown on spring break partying. She told the City Council at a March 28 meeting that parking restrictions in garages and lots near Miami’s South Beach were particularly effective and recommended Tybee adopt similar limitations for Orange Crush.

Tybee has only 2,500 parking spots islandwide, and closing both the large lots near the city’s most popular beach, prohibiting parking along U.S. 80 and restricting access to parking spots in residential areas will significantly reduce parking availability.

With few parking options, city leaders expect would-be Orange Crush attendees and other visitors to leave the island.

The measures have prompted several restaurant, bar and souvenir shop owners in the island’s central business district to announce plans to limit their hours on Orange Crush weekend, with most intending to close by 6 p.m. The innkeeper, Kelly, is closing her bed and breakfast for the weekend.

The few outspoken critics of the Orange Crush lockdown voice frustration that the measures are unnecessary but predict they will produce the desired outcome.

“Orange Crush this year will be like most, if not all, Orange Crushes, with the exception of last year: much ado about nothing,” Pearce said. “And they’ll be able to use that to justify what they did.”

This story has been updated to correct the length of Tybee Mayor Brian West’s tenure as a city council member.