Orange Crush on Tybee Island in 2024 had roughly half the number of attendees as last year’s event did, according to Placer.Ai data released by the City on Wednesday. Over the weekend of April 19-21, 2024, the island had 55,700 visits. Last year’s Orange Crush weekend (April 21-23) drew 111,100 visits; it’s a 49.9 percent drop in visits, year over year.

The attendance numbers for last weekend’s Orange Crush were presented to Tybee City Council members, Mayor Brian West, and others, by Communications Director Cassidi Kendrick.

She spoke during a council workshop Wednesday afternoon on the island. Placer.ai, which uses cell phone tracking permissions to collect its data, showed the area near Tybee’s pier and Tybrisa Street was the most popular spot on the beach. It drew 16,700 visits over the weekend.

According to an interactive map showing “home” zip codes for cell phones on the island on April 19-21, Tybee had visitors come (presumably for Orange Crush) from cities including Atlanta, New York, Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Raleigh, North Carolina was another notable origin city for many of the devices at Orange Crush.

The city this week also released crime data from Orange Crush 2024.

During the entire week of April 15-21, there were 57 total arrests on Tybee Island – 54 of those came over Orange Crush weekend. Tybee Police made 30 arrests during Orange Crush. Four other law enforcement agencies combined to make 24 over the weekend. Georgia State Patrol made 15 arrests, while the Motor Carrier Compliance Division made four. The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office arrested three people and State Arson Investigators two.

Over the weekend this year, Tybee’s 911 center collected 526 calls for service this year. In 2023, Tybee recorded 336 calls for service during Orange Crush.

Arrest numbers for the week this year were posted on the Tybee Island Police Department (TIPD) website Wednesday. It came following a preliminary post on Tuesday announcing general weekend numbers. Included in the 2024 stats were 111 traffic citations issued – all by TIPD officers – and three stolen firearms recovered.

In 2023, law enforcement took 15 firearms off the street over Orange Crush and the following weekend (“Peach Fest”). Two of those 15 were reported stolen.

“The arrest numbers represent those of all agencies that were on the island last weekend, while the citations are only those issued by TIPD,” read a portion of the statement accompanying Wednesday’s crime recap from the department.

“The Tybee Island Police Department does not have the time or resources to detail every traffic stop or call for service that we respond to. That means the narratives included in the recap represent a small sample of the incidents our team dealt with over the week.”

Increased law enforcement measures were put into place this year for Orange Crush, the annual spring break beach party attended primarily by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) students. Since it last received an official event permit from the City of Tybee in 1991, it has continued annually on the third weekend of April (traditional collegiate spring break) as an unofficial, unpermitted beach party.

In response, Tybee officials spent at least $230,000 to implement increased traffic and parking restrictions while bringing in approximately 110 extra officers from at least four outside agencies to assist a 12-person TIPD staff in policing Orange Crush.

Interim City Manager Michelle Owens estimated the French barricades placed along Tybee’s streets (to restrict access and control flow of traffic) cost the city $100,000 to rent.

Tybee did not receive a permit request from any person wishing to officially host Orange Crush this year. The only permit application submitted for April 19-21, 2024 on the island was for an HBCU Food Truck Festival, proposed for the 16th street parking lot near the pier on Saturday, April 20.

It was denied in February by Owens, meaning there is no official promoter of Orange Crush.

New state legislation aimed at holding promoters of “unpermitted events” accountable for monetary damages associated with the events they promote is Tybee’s stated path towards recouping some or all of the money it spent to police the weekend. Senate Bill 443 was passed in March and signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp earlier this month.

“(Getting money from promoters) would be something you would do on the back end, if you could find a promoter,” Owens told Connect Savannah in March.

“If you could tie the event to specific promoters via their advertising on social media or however else they might advertise – we would have to be able to tie it to specific persons.”

This article appears in Connect Savannah I April 2024.