ORANGE CRUSH COLLISION COURSE
– A three-part series exclusive from Connect Savannah –
Orange Crush disputes spark heated war of words between Tybee leaders and event supporters
The owner and founder of Orange Crush Festival, LLC says Tybee Island officials are working to destroy the event because of race, and that he has nothing to do with events on Tybee this spring. George “Mikey” Turner says other promoters are trying to cash in on the brand he developed, even after he has moved his festival away from Tybee to Jacksonville.
Turner says he wasn't involved in last year's Tybee Orange Crush and hasn't been involved with a Tybee Orange Crush since 2019. But he owns an LLC and the entertainment trademark for "Orange Crush Festival," and that has kept him extremely interested in the way Tybee Mayor Brian West has handled the event which last year brought an estimated 111,100 people to the island over a three-day period. Nearly 50,000 people went to Tybee on the day of Saturday, April 22, 2023.
“Tybee is really the biggest promoter of this whole thing," said Turner on a Feb. 24 phone call with Connect Savannah. "They promote it more than anyone because they go on TV and say all these people are coming, they're going to do all of these things to stop them, and then TV, they help Tybee as promoters because they will say whatever (the mayor) tells them to say."
"In reality, I haven't even put out any dates at all, really, for the past three or four years (at Tybee). And I've still been getting targeted.”
Turner, 32, and Orange Crush Florida CEO Steven Smalls have found a semi-home for Orange Crush events in Jacksonville, where Smalls is based. The city has permitted the Orange Crush Festival there for July 11-14, 2024. The duo says there were zero arrests at last year's Jacksonville Orange Crush, and Tybee Police Chief Tiffany Hayes said she went to the event last year to learn about how Jacksonville Police were operating during the busy weekend. 
[ORANGE CRUSH FLORIDA]
Steven Smalls
"Orange Crush is supposed to be spring break for college kids and that's not what it is anymore," West told Connect Savannah in December. "We're not big enough – we only have one way in and one way out – and we're going to have hundreds of cops on the island. It's not going to be the event they think it’s going to be."
“It doesn't fit here anymore."
The consequences of last year's Tybee Orange Crush turnout on April 21-23 have already been felt at the Georgia State Capitol with the passage of Senate Bill 443 on March 5. Authored by Sen. Benjamin Watson (R-Savannah), the bill puts promoters of unpermitted events at risk of being held financially responsible for expenses incurred by a municipality during such unpermitted events. It needs only a signature from Governor Brian Kemp in order to become law.
Even if Kemp declines to sign the bill, it will still become law barring a Governor's veto. In the unlikely case of a veto, SB 443 goes back to the Georgia General Assembly where it would then need a two-thirds majority vote to get on the books.
“Because I own the trademark, I’m wondering if that bill is going to make it where they can basically come after me for nothing," Turner said. "It's a witch hunt, to be real, it's a f****** witch hunt, and they know it. So, why would I even associate myself with Tybee at all? It doesn't make any sense, because I don't even make any money out of Tybee, or Savannah, for Orange Crush.”
Unlike other events of similar size and popularity (Fourth of July, St. Patrick's Day, etc.), Orange Crush isn't permitted by any local government and, therefore, is more an organic staple than an official festival.
The event has not been issued a permit by Tybee Island since at least 1992. However, that hasn't stopped it from happening on the third weekend of April, almost every year since at least 1988.
The event has not been issued a permit by Tybee Island since at least 1992. However, that hasn't stopped it from happening on the third weekend of April, almost every year since at least 1988.
“Police are going to show up and shut it down before it even starts," said West.
The date for Orange Crush usually coincides with the calendar week of spring break at most HBCU schools, and that’s the rationale behind when the event is scheduled. A public beach with very few ways to legally shut down access, there is not much Tybee can do to prevent a large number of people from meeting at the beach, at the same time, every year. Orange Crush in 2024 falls on the weekend of April 19-21.
Interim City Manager Michelle Owens explained Tybee's predicament in a Feb. 1 email exchange with Connect Savannah.
“Because promoters never follow through with a viable special event permit application, even when we meet with them and explain the process in detail, they are able to keep their profits and evade financial responsibility for the impacts of their events.”
If it does come to Tybee again this April, it'll be despite West's best efforts to prevent it. Just days after 2023 Orange Crush weekend on Tybee, he had already taken a stance.
“It is not going to happen again at Tybee, not as long as I'm involved with Tybee politics,” he said, then as a city council member, in late April of 2023. “We're not going to let this happen.”
After winning his November campaign for mayor against fellow candidates Mack Kitchens and Julia Pearce, West sat down with Connect Savannah to talk about his upcoming four-year term. Even at that time, roughly five months before the scheduled return of Orange Crush, West was already adamant.
“My message this year on that event is simple. It’s not going to happen. They are not going to make it down here," he said. “This is the dumbest place to have it. If you're paying to come to something here, you should try to get your money back because it's not going to happen.”
Turner owns the LLC and trademark for "Orange Crush Festival," but he doesn't claim ownership for the annual weekend party on Tybee. Neither can anyone else.
“This event has been going on at Tybee for the last 35 years," Pearce, the founder and coordinator of Tybee's MLK Society, said of Orange Crush during a February phone call with Connect Savannah. “For reactionary citizens, it's always a crisis, but the people who are not reactionary, they don't say anything, they just don't say one thing. It really is frustrating because we know people who don’t mind it or say it's not a big deal.”
West refutes that claim.
“Most businesses and restaurants don't open because they can't get employees to or from work. When they did open in previous years, we saw fights and violence and it just wasn't worth it to them. Nothing good came from (2023 Orange Crush) as far as I can tell. The island did not benefit in any way."
Plans to rent the Tybee Island pier (a Chatham County facility) were made by Turner and scheduled for April 20, 2024 through the Chatham County Parks and Recreation Department. He never filed for an event permit on Tybee Island. Turner canceled his event in late February after another promoter, Tre "Britian" Wigfall, was denied a Special Events Permit Application for his proposed "HBCU Food Truck Festival," also scheduled for April 20 on Tybee.
“Honestly, the reason why they denied (the permit) was because of the fear of Orange Crush. And they also blamed it on there being no space in the parking lot and traffic," Wigfall said in a March 1 interview with Connect Savannah. "I think that anything I tried to ask for was going to get denied. That’s just the way I feel."
“Even if you aren't going to permit Orange Crush, you could permit this event to get Orange Crush off of people's minds. If they don't try to compromise to control it, then they won't be able to stop it."
The pier did not need to be permitted, since it is operated by Chatham County, so Turner was never denied an event permit by the City of Tybee Island. Still, he decided to cancel his fashion show event for the pier out of worry that Tybee could hold Orange Crush Florida accountable for anything that happened on the island that weekend, especially after Wigfall's permit denial.
Turner also believes there is a race factor behind the actions of Tybee officials.
Turner also believes there is a race factor behind the actions of Tybee officials.
“There was a zero percent chance for me or Wigfall to ever get a permit from Tybee. Everyone knows this," he said. "I guess (Wigfall) filed for a permit because he wanted to see if he would have that one percent chance. But we all knew that wasn't the case. It was less than one percent. They wrote out the lingo for the permits to make money with the people they want to make money with. Clearly, people like me and (Wigfall) are not on that side, regardless of whatever they say about the race factor and all that.”
“The jersey we wear must be different from what they got on. They don't see the same thing when they see us."
West, 59, says race is not involved.
“I don't see it as a race issue," he said in April 2023. "I see it as the population of the group that's coming. People will want to call us racist or discriminatory if we single out this one weekend, but we have to admit that this is a completely different crowd than other large events."
Demographic data from Census Reporter indicates Tybee's population of roughly 3,100 is 93.7 percent white (2,928 residents) and 3.4 percent black (110).
Demographic data from Census Reporter indicates Tybee's population of roughly 3,100 is 93.7 percent white (2,928 residents) and 3.4 percent black (110).
Pearce finished well behind West in Tybee's November 2023 mayoral election, but she was aiming to become the island's first black mayor. Wigfall listed her as one of two references on his Jan. 22 HBCU Food Truck Festival permit application. When asked if she was surprised by Tybee's handling of Orange Crush of late, Pearce said she wasn't.
“They need to do better," she said of Tybee leadership. “This is like any other busy weekend on Tybee. It's a mess, but it's a mess to do anything in-season on Tybee."
She was part of a 2018 mediation agreement overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice (see below) between the City of Tybee Island and a Pearce-led group called Concerned Citizens of Tybee Island.
A four-part mediation agreement, part one states that “the participants in the mediation have agreed to support the recommendation to the City Council that the city develop across the board objective criteria that will be applied equally for all holiday and/or tourism events, permitted and unpermitted.”
Now, Pearce says the agreement has either been forgotten or willfully ignored by the current mayor, police chief, and current city council members.
“The city groups all black people together, all the time. They don't really make a distinction. We live in a very color conscious country, and they group people together who don't fit together, but they go ahead and group them together anyway.”
“It's sick and twisted."
Wigfall, 31, is one of the many promoters selling online tickets to events taking place in Savannah and the surrounding areas before, during, and after the beach bash on the Saturday of Orange Crush weekend. Turner refers to Wigfall and others with similar business plans as "piggyback promoters."
“I had asked a specific question," Turner said of a Jan. 22 meeting he attended alongside Smalls, Wigfall, Hayes, Owens, and Tybee Special Events Coordinator Robyn Rosner.
“I asked, and I'm telling you this, I said 'can we not be lumped together in the same category, because we aren’t the same.' They were basically like, no, we're lumping you (and Wigfall) together."
“I asked, and I'm telling you this, I said 'can we not be lumped together in the same category, because we aren’t the same.' They were basically like, no, we're lumping you (and Wigfall) together."
He says Wigfall has agreed not to use the term "Orange Crush Festival" in future promotion for any of his events, such as one apparently scheduled for Sunday, April 21 at the Island Breeze bar on Montgomery Street in Savannah.
A representative from Island Breeze spoke over the phone with Connect Savannah on March 13 and said an event called "Get Crushed Day Party," listed on a popular ticketing platform called EventBrite, is neither booked nor confirmed for Island Breeze.
“There's nothing for April on the schedule yet. I'm guessing that's Orange Crush weekend, but we have nothing up on our website for that," he said. "I would hold on that. Yeah, I wouldn’t buy no tickets right now because, like I said, I'm looking on the website, and we have nothing booked for April right now.”
“Sometimes people make a lot of fake s*** and put it out there just to get free money. I would say to go on the Island Breeze Facebook page or the Instagram page and see if you see that party that's being promoted. If it's not, I would just put my hands up in the air and be like no, because this doesn’t look real.”
[EVENTBRITE]
Tickets are already being sold for $20 apiece with Island Breeze as the listed venue and "IslandBreezeBar.com" as the listed event host. Also on the page are two phone numbers for those seeking “VIP tables” at the party. One of the phone numbers is identical to the one Wigfall wrote as his contact number on the HBCU Food Truck Festival permit application he submitted to Tybee.
“What we do with clubs or bars in Savannah isn't impacting Tybee," Wigfall said. "People know to come, and they're going to come regardless of what we say."
Turner still believes West and Tybee officials should be doing more to correct public perception that any Orange Crush event on Tybee is related to Orange Crush Festival, LLC run by Orange Crush Florida and based in Jacksonville.
“We don't want them using our name, ruining our name, doing an event – in a city that we left – without us at all,” Turner said. "That's 100 percent unacceptable."
[FACEBOOK]
George Turner, Founder and CEO of Orange Crush Festival, LLC
West has declined to differentiate between Wigfall and Turner in public comments about the topic. He has not mentioned either by name.
Instead, the mayor and other state lawmakers have largely grouped promoters and organizers into one category: People who are wrongly, and maybe illegally, profiting from the popularity of an unpermitted event.
Instead, the mayor and other state lawmakers have largely grouped promoters and organizers into one category: People who are wrongly, and maybe illegally, profiting from the popularity of an unpermitted event.
“We have promoters promoting an event at a place they don't even live and at a place they aren't responsible for," he said in December. "Some of them don't even live in the state, but none of them live here. They are encouraging people to come down here and to have illegal behavior."
The mayor's comments on Orange Crush irked Turner, and he posted a response (see below) to Orange Crush Florida's website days after West's Q&A with Connect Savannah was published in early January.
Turner's Response to West Q&A
OCF
Turner stresses he hasn’t been back to a Tybee Orange Crush in five years after he was arrested on the island in 2019 for “felony serious damage to personal and real property." The Associated Press reported on the arrest in an April 2019 story, saying Turner was also charged with “knowingly providing a false name to an officer, maintaining a disorderly house in violation of a city ordinance, and actively promoting an unpermitted event.”
“Police in Georgia said a weekend beach party was canceled after its promoter’s arrest, but thousands of people still came to Tybee Island for Orange Crush," the AP wrote on April 28, 2019.
That case regarding his arrest “is being dismissed,” Turner said in February.
“It will be much better in Florida at this point. Mayor West is right about that part, because Tybee refuses to work on it." he said. "They don’t treat it like something they want to learn how to do. If they didn't refuse to spend time on this, it would already be different by now. But they refuse to, they always have. It's like putting oil and water in a cup together, they don’t mix together.”
“It will be much better in Florida at this point. Mayor West is right about that part, because Tybee refuses to work on it." he said. "They don’t treat it like something they want to learn how to do. If they didn't refuse to spend time on this, it would already be different by now. But they refuse to, they always have. It's like putting oil and water in a cup together, they don’t mix together.”
He maintains that negative attention stemming from recent Orange Crush weekends on Tybee (and from subsequent media coverage welcomed by West, alleges Turner) has hurt OCF in sponsorship opportunities, brand imaging, and public trust, among other things, in Jacksonville.
“They don't care about Tybee, and they really don't care about the name of the event in the way that we do, because we own the name of the event. We continue to build on the name every day in Florida, but they don't care about those things."
“They don't care about Tybee, and they really don't care about the name of the event in the way that we do, because we own the name of the event. We continue to build on the name every day in Florida, but they don't care about those things."
On March 9, Turner posted a declarative statement to his Orange Crush Florida social media accounts.
“Hey Tybee Island, Britian Wigfall is the piggyback promoter that is organizing & promoting 'Orange Crush' on Tybee. I have no dog in the Tybee race," he wrote. "I just own the trademark that’s being falsely used by Wigfall, Club Elan & Island Breeze. I moved it to Florida. Tybee and Bill 443 need to charge Wigfall & the clubs & venues making money off my trademark and the beach and its historical reference. Bill 443 is charging $187K for Tybee 4/20 weekend to who they deem as promoters & organizers. Which since 2018 was NOT me! My money get made in Florida. I don’t have no events in GA at all. All trademarked Orange Crush Festival events from my company are in Florida. The Jacksonville Beach permits were approved and, of course, the Tybee permit was denied.”
