During the early days of his tenure with the city of Tybee Island City Manager Brett Bell said that he had begun having weekly conversations with various people, including the Tybee Police chief, on how to make the annual unpermitted Orange Crush event safer. In that process, the city was approached by Orange Crush organizers George Turner and Steven Smalls with a plan for a permitted event, something that hadn’t happened since the event cut ties with Savannah State University in 1991.
After months of negotiations and planning, the Orange Crush came and went on April 19, with considerably less fanfare and angst than in years past. The 2025 iteration of Orange Crush saw similar attendance as in 2024, but fewer crime numbers than previous years, according to the recap Bell gave during Thursday night’s city council meeting.
Bell highlighted the law enforcement and community efforts throughout the day to feed and lodge festival goers and workers, and with cleaning the beach. He said he was very proud of the way the islanders reacted.
More: How does Tybee Island’s Beach Bum Parade and Pirate Fest compare to Orange Crush?
Day of recap: ‘This is just college students having a good time;’ Orange Crush one-day crowd about 7,000
Saturday, April 19, 2025; Tybee Island, Ga.; Derez De’Shon performs on the stage on Saturday, April 19, 2025 during Orange Crush on Tybee Island.
By the numbers
Although numbers have not been fully reported for the entire weekend, 30,000 people flocked to Tybee Island on Saturday, April 19―about the same number of people as the 2024 Orange Crush event. In comparison with 2023, which drew 50,000 visitors to the island on the Saturday, according to data from Placer.AI. However, the island was inundated with more than 115,000 during the three-day Spring Break event. In 2024, the island experienced a precipitous drop in attendance when a total of 56,000 people crossed from the mainland to Tybee over the weekend.
As for the crime statistics, TIPD made 22 arrests, 22 traffic stops, 184 calls for service and two stolen firearms over the course of the weekend. Last year, TIPD made 54 arrests, gave out 111 traffic citations, five beach citations and answered 526 calls for service over the three-day weekend. Three stolen firearms were seized.
“Those who came for Orange Crush were exceedingly well behaved, for the most part,” Bell said. “They were there to have a good time as mostly college-aged kids on the beach.”
Bell mentioned that officers did find a couple of vehicles that were heavily armed, including with AR-15-style rifles, during traffic stops. “Luckily, there wee no incidents, and I attribute that to the overwhelming police, law enforcement presence that we had on the island for the weekend. You had to really think twice to do wrong on Tybee Island.”
There were 125 officers representing seven agencies that reported stats from both Tybee Island and on U.S Highway 80. They reported a combined 457 traffic stops, 361 warnings, 114 citations, 12 DUIs, 2 felony drug arrests and one stolen firearm.
Other stats include 27,580 pounds of trash collected on the weekend, 28 cars towed, nine on-beach intoxications, 10 minor medical calls, one woman in labor and one dog bite.
What organizers said before the fest: ‘Here to take accountability’: What to know about Orange Crush 2025 a month out
Tybee Mayor Brian West holds Zane Turner, age 3, while Orange Crush promoters speak during a community information session about the upcoming Orange Crush event on Friday, March 21, 2025.
Tension between Orange Crush founder and organizer
Though the weekend went smoothly, tension appeared to be brewing between George Turner, the Orange Crush trademark holder, and Steven Smalls, the CEO organizer of the event. Turner, who had been one of the faces of the event, often communicating with press and attending meetings with city staff, did not attend the April 19 festival on or the ribbon-cutting ceremony held the day before. He had stopped attending meetings leading up to the event.
Turner is now demanding $50,000 per year for a licensing agreement for the use of the Orange Crush bane, or $350,000 to purchase and transfer the trademark. After May 1, Turner said this is will be a public offer, and a cease and desist letter will be sent to Smalls who, according to Turner, will no longer be an organizer unless they reach an agreement by that day.
“I am seriously not allowing any organizers including Steven Smalls or whoever to work with Tybee without an agreed upon signed and paid licensing agreement,” Turner said in a text message.
Smalls responded with a lengthy statement, saying that Turner was now his “former associate.” They met in 2021, two years after Turner was arrested on Tybee for damage to personal property. Smalls said he tried to coordinate with him to plan the Tybee festival after having organized several Orange Crush events in Florida.
“I didn’t know the full extent of his troubled history,” Smalls wrote in the statement. “It wasn’t until I began engaging with businesses and clubs in Savannah and Tybee Island that I realized [his] reputation was severely tarnished and his involvement was deterring support.”
That support apparently made him distance himself from Turner entirely for the protection of the future of the brand and the communities they serve, he said. Turner, according to Smalls, went silent “for months” prior to the event, despite the fact that Turner was at the April 2 press conference, remaining unreachable until the event was over.
Smalls said Turner was demanding money that does not exist for an event that had been put on to great personal financial loss for him. He is now pursuing legal channels to remove Turner as the trademark holder, saying that his actions are damaging the brand and the “positive direction” in which the festival is headed.
He added that if rebranding was necessary to preserve the “mission” of Orange Crush, he would do it.
“I’m committed to making this festival a national example of how we can merge culture, commerce and community — and nothing will stand in the way of that vision.” Smalls wrote.
Notably, many of those who attended Orange Crush said they were unaware that there was a permitted, organized event. If they were aware, they were unwilling to pay the price for a ticket for an event on a public beach.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for the Savannah Morning News, covering the municipalities, and community and cultural programs. You can reach her at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee Island Orange Crush draws smaller crowd, police make fewer arrests
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