A law against Orange Crush? Tybee Council asks Georgia Legislature to squelch pop-up events

Tybee City Council will ask the Georgia General Assembly to draft a law to address social media "pop-up" events such as the Orange Crush beach party and more recently the July 4 Turnt Island gathering.

The council voted 5-1 Thursday to approve a resolution requesting the Legislature give municipalities the power to "declare local emergencies in connection with certain events that would overwhelm the capacity of city resources."

The move is in response to the spring break-like beach bash that attracted an estimated 50,000 young adults to Tybee over a weekend in April. The unpermitted event, promoted via social media, was marred by snarled traffic, fights on the beach and a road rage shooting along U.S. 80 near Fort Pulaski.

'Squelch it': Tybee Island residents call for end of Orange Crush

Orange Crush is an annual event that started in the 1980s as a party for Savannah State students. The university cut ties with Orange Crush in 1991 due to an increase in violence and reckless behavior around the event.

"This has been going on for 20 years now," said council Member Barry Brown in reference to Orange Crush. "It's time to pull the trigger on it."

Council Member Nancy DeVetter was the lone dissenting vote against the resolution. DeVetter, a practicing attorney, said that while she supports taking action in regards to social media "pop-up" events, she finds the resolution too broad and fears it would give state lawmakers a "blank check" to "write something that could be abused.

"Asking Atlanta for a broad pop-up event law for this does have potential for overreach," DeVetter said.

Mayor Shirley Sessions cited a Florida law, passed in 2022, as a potential model for a Georgia. The Florida statute gives local police the power to designate a “special event zone” within their jurisdiction, to issue fines and impound vehicles for noncriminal traffic infractions within the zone, and to recover costs incurred for enforcing the special event zone from party promoters and organizers.

Tybee spent an estimated $80,000 on additional public safety officers for the Turnt Island party earlier this month. The pop-up event attracted approximately 100 attendees and avoided the incidents that marred Orange Crush.

According to Sessions, three Turnt Island partiers arrested for traffic violations have been identified as event promoters. Had Georgia a Florida-like law, the city would have the authority to seek civil penalties from those individuals.

"Tybee can't afford $80,000 every time there is the potential for a social media event," Sessions said.

With Thursday's passage, the Tybee resolution goes to the two state lawmakers who represent Tybee in the Georgia Legislature, Rep. Jesse Petrea and Sen. Ben Watson.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee resolution asks Georgia General Assembly draft law pop-up events