JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Orange Crush Festival is set to host several events this weekend in Jacksonville and also Jax Beach.
The festival over the years hasn’t always been viewed positively by communities where it’s been held, but now new promoters are trying to change that.
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“Orange Crush Festival, we are a multi-cultural event,” said Orange Crush CEO Steven Smalls.
Smalls is looking to bring a host of events to the bold city, including Jax Beach.
“We’re here Thursday through Sunday in Jacksonville Florida for our fourth annual event,” said Smalls.
Smalls says his team plans to hold several events at the beach, including a tug-a-war, a volleyball tournament, and even a silent headphone party on the Jacksonville Pier both Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 am.
Smalls says he didn’t apply for permits for two of these events before the deadline. And because of that the events have to be free.
“I applied for all the permits. Unfortunately, I didn’t get them all in time,” said Smalls.
According to an Instagram post from Jax Beach, organized events must be permitted by the city where they are being held.
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We reached out to Jax Beach Mayor Chris Hoffman for clarification on this, she told us it’s a little bit of a judgment call to say if the tug-war and volleyball games are an organized event or not, but people should not be paying to get on the beach.
Hoffman did send us this text message saying
“We along with neighboring communities, are preparing for a busy holiday weekend….No permitted events will be in Jax Beach
As for smalls, he says the festival organizers are expecting at least 10,000 people to show up to this weekend’s events, and he believes they have the proper security to handle it.
“I have reconstructed orange crush to be more organized. So that it is a time-permitted process, hopefully, they will see it as an organized event,” said Smalls.
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