April 15, 2026, 8:57 a.m. ET
- The annual HBCU beach event on Tybee Island has been renamed Crush Reloaded due to a trademark dispute.
- Originally an unpermitted event called Orange Crush, the festival first received a city permit in 2025.
- The event will feature live music, vendors, and activities, with tickets starting at $18 for a one-day pass.
The annual HBCU beach bash on Tybee Island is just around the corner under a new name: Crush Reloaded. Here’s everything you need to know about the spring break event that has existed in some form since the late 1980s.
What is Orange Crush?
Orange Crush was Tybee Island’s largest unpermitted event, starting in 1988 as a gathering for and sponsored by Savannah State University students. In the early 90s, the school severed ties with the organizers after a dozen arrests, a stabbing and a drowning.
The gathering had been primarily marketed to students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and kept alive through word of mouth. To some SSU studdents, Orange Crush has been like a second spring break.
In 2025, for the first time ever, Orange Crush recieved a permit for an event on the beach. The festival was considered a success by both Tybee Island leadership and Orange Crush organizers?
What is Crush Reloaded?
Crush Reloaded is a new name for Orange Crush, due to trademark disputes between the organizer of the festival last year, Steven Smalls, and the trademark holder, George Turner III.
The event will be structured the same as last year, and Smalls hopes the new name will come with a new reputation for the festival.
When is Crush Reloaded 2026?
Crush Reloaded will be held Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and will feature live DJs, performing artists, dance competitions, festival vendors, food and drinks, games and activities.
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How will Crush Reloaded be structured?
Crush Reloaded will be structured the same way as Orange Crush last year.
The festival will have one stage, set up just to the south of Burke’s Crossover on 14 1/2 Street, with beach chairs and umbrellas available for rent. There will be one vendor tent to sell water and event-related merchandise, such as T-Shirts and hats. Outside vendors are not allowed on the beach.
There will be performers and DJ’s throughout the day, and a VIP tent.
How can I get tickets?
Tickets are available here, and start at $18 for a one-day pass on the beach.
What public safety measures will be in place?
Like the previous two years, although the permit is issued for just one day, the city of Tybee Island Police Department is preparing for the full weekend to be busy. Additional law enforcement officers will be arriving on the island Thursday afternoon. Officers from multiple agencies, including from the Georgia State Patrol Motor Compliance Division, State Arson Investigators, Chatham County Sheriff’s Department and Liberty County Sheriff’s Office will be on the island.
On April 16, there will be road safety checkpoints on Highway 80 at 7 p.m. near Lazaretto Creek.
While TIPD and other law enforcement agencies monitor safety on the roads and the rest of the island, the organizer for this event has hired security for the beach, as is required by the permit much like last year. The organizer is also required to: have an ambulance contract for the beach, a sanitation contract, and a certificate of insurance naming the city as an additional insured and certificate holder. All of the measures taken by Tybee in 2024 and 2025 did result in less major incidents occurring, with just 21 arrests, 22 traffic citations and around 184 calls for service last year. In 2024, TIPD made 54 arrests, gave out 111 traffic citations, five beach citations and answered 526 calls for service over the three-day weekend.
How will traffic and parking work?
The setup of the island will be similar to last year, with limited parking. Both of the parking lots near the pier will be closed, as well as on-street parking along parts of Butler Ave. Any vehicles parked illegally on public property will be towed.
The center lanes throughout the island will be closed for an emergency lane.
Motor compliance will be in the emergency center lane, keeping non-emergency vehicles out of the center lane, so law enforcement and EMS will be able to get from call to call.
Need a ride?
Lul Murshell is offering van services to the beach from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., on Saturday, April 18, according to his Facebook page. The services are $40 per person.
How many people came in 2025?
Some 30,000 people are reported to have come to the island on the day of the event last year, the same number of people that came in 2024, according to data from Placer.AI.
What happened during Orange Crush 2023?
In a press release that year, the city of Tybee Island said that the high volume of people, estimated to number more than 100,000 people over a three-day weekend, caused traffic accidents, road rage, crowding and complaints around drug and alcohol abuse, noise, illegal parking and litter.
Ten car accidents occurred between noon and 10 p.m. on the two-lane U.S. Hwy 80 East that is the only road onto and off of Tybee Island. In one of those accidents, seven people were injured, according to previous reporting by the Savannah Morning News.
One man was arrested by Chatham County Police in a road rage shooting on April 22, 2023, and one person of the six that were in the car suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. There were eyewitness reports of someone flashing a gun and gunshots. Emergency vehicles were also unable to get through because of the traffic jam.
