TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WSAV) – After a two-year hiatus from the area, the Orange Crash beach bash attended by thousands of HBCU students is back on Tybee Island.
Though it has garnered controversy, after a series of incidents in its history — including a shooting in 2015 — organizers say they’ve spoken with local law enforcement and want to make sure all partygoers follow the rules.
They’re hopeful that posting safety rules on social media and on signs around the island will help keep everyone out of harm’s way.
“As far as we promoted, the rules of the beach, the guidelines for traffic control, and whatever the police gave us to post and report to everybody else,” says Britian Wigfall, an organizer of Orange Crush.
For a local lawyer handing out free Orange Crush t-shirts, he says the event could bring him new business.
“We’re supporting the community; we’re giving back and we’re giving out free t-shirts and beach balls and being out here for the fun. Hoping Tybee stays clean, and everybody has a good time today, and also, we’re doing some advertising,” says Derek Horne, owner of the Horne Law Firm. “I actually trademarked that saying, ‘Came on vacation, left on probation,’ and since I did, I was like why not throw them on some t-shirts and hand them out?”
Mostly, he just wants to see everyone get home safely.
“You know, when you have a lot of college students coming down, we know they’re going to have fun, we want to make sure they’re out here having a good time,” Horne says. “We do think that people getting together, having fun in a safe responsible manner is important, and we like to remind them of that when we give the t-shirts out: stay safe.”
“Even with the signs coming in, they have the rules, the safety rules. I think, even with the signs on the road, everything’s pretty much good,” says Wigfall.
Most of all, they’re happy to once again be back on Tybee Island.
“It’s a great feeling, everyone outside, it’s a beautiful feeling. It’s a good feeling,” he says.