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Fox News
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Orange Crush 2025: Popular Georgia vacation town approves return of crime-filled beach fest
Tybee Island, Georgia, plans to welcome back the controversial "Orange Crush" music festival in April, so long as the organizers agree to meet certain conditions. "Thanks for your interest in the 2025 Orange Crush Festival!" a post on the Orange Crush Instagram page reads. "We're thrilled to announce that for the first time in decades, we are fully permitted and ready to celebrate April 18-20." The event previously came to the popular Georgia beach town but without official permits issued by the city. It has also built a reputation for creating security and trash issues on the island. The Tybee Island City Council on Jan. 26 sent a conditional letter of approval to Orange Crush organizer Steven Smalls, saying that the city will issue a special events permit to the festival after "all conditions" listed in the letter "have been addressed to the satisfaction" of local government leaders. Conditions that need to be met include event timing and placement requirements to "coordinate municipal services"; assuring "the preservation of public property"; preventing dangerous and unlawful behavior; ensuring people's safety at the event; and planning for traffic control, among other conditions. If the "scope, intensity, location, type or size of the event" deviates from the city's requirements, permit approval will be retracted. "Orange Crush Festival 2025 is bringing nothing but HEAT this year," a Thursday announcement on the festival's Facebook page reads, adding that this year's event will be "the BIGGEST Orange Crush Festival yet!" "You already know it's about to be legendary!" the post reads. Last year, the event came to Tybee without an official permit. Videos from the festival shared on social media showed violent brawls, women throwing haymakers and wrestling with each other, and piles of trash growing on the beach. In the early 1990s, Orange Crush had a reputation for being a wild, crime-filled weekend, and Savannah State University disassociated with the event in 1991 because of the high number of arrests and reports of violence. READ THE CONDITIONAL LETTER OF APPROVAL. MOBILE USERS CLICK HERE Two years ago, the event moved to Jacksonville, Florida, "due to lack of resources, limited parking, civil rights violations and political injustices," according to a June 2021 story on which cited the event's website. The website has since been taken down. The event returned to Tybee Island in 2023 for the first time since 2020.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Biggest flex at Super Bowl week — Jags owner Shad Khan and his superyacht
NEW ORLEANS — There are massive corporate logos beamed in light on the side of downtown skyscrapers. Banners flap in the wind above makeshift stages and outdoor party areas. Music blares around a corner of packed French Quarter bars. Taylor Swift is coming. So, too, is Donald Trump. This city — famed for its rowdy street parties and vociferous colored costumes — is ready for the Super Bowl. Until then, however, seemingly everyone, from Fortune 500 sponsors to back alley gumbo joints, is vying for attention. Yet amidst it all, sits an unexpected, if understandable, must-see attraction that floated into town a week ago, turning the heads of locals and football tourists alike. In a city teeming with ostentatious displays of wealth and power and celebrity, with everyone and everything begging for eyeballs this weekend, it overwhelms all else. It's the Kismet, a massive, six-deck superyacht docked along the Mississippi river bank. It belongs to billionaire businessman and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan and stretches 400-feet — longer than the field Kansas City and Philadelphia will play on Sunday. Khan purchased it last year for a reported $360 million and apparently decided to show it off to the world here at the Super Bowl. Nice flex by Jags owner Shahid Khan, take the six-deck $360 million yacht to New Orleans for the Super Bowl — Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) February 4, 2025 It's certainly getting attention. Since its arrival in late January right next to Woldenberg Park near the French Quarter, crowds have gathered around it to gawk, pose for selfies and try to peer into its various rooms. How about that opulent chandelier? Is the sprawling table for business meetings or formal dinners? 'How many people can fit in there?' asked one woman from the Riverwalk on Friday morning. 'I don't know, but I could get comfortable on it,' joked her friend. According to the boat has nine guest cabins and features a crew of 36, plus a captain.. The Kismet is the size of a small hotel. It has three separate swimming pools, four fireplaces, two outdoor fire pits, a gym and both a basketball and pickleball court, according to There is also a spa with a Turkish bath, a sauna and a cryotherapy chamber. A helipad sits on top. For additional entertainment, it features an outdoor cinema, a dance floor with a DJ station, four different bars and an underwater viewing room. The boat is built to be noticed and Khan certainly isn't hiding it with its docking location. The reaction to it is somewhat mixed — some see it as fun and awe-inspiring, others as ridiculous and unnecessary. For much of the week it sat next to a working crane boat. A small homeless encampment is a few short steps away. It's been an excuse to crack jokes that this is as close as Khan and the Jaguars will get to the Super Bowl. (The team has never made the NFL title game and went just 4-13 this season.) Khan was born in Pakistan and came to the United States at age 16 to study at the University of Illinois. He later worked as an engineer before buying the company Flex-N-Gate, which among other things supplies car and truck bumpers to major automotive manufacturers. The 74-year olds' net worth is an estimated $13.3 billion. He's been buying bigger and bigger boats for years. Khan is hardly alone among NFL owners in having a superyacht. Atlanta's Arthur Blank owns a 295-footer and Dallas' Jerry Jones has a $250 million 357-foot long boat, among others. It's the Kismet, though, that has been hanging around the Super Bowl, drawing people away from all the usual attractions — from the traditional ones of New Orleans itself to the constructed temporary facilities of the Super Bowl. There is nothing like a massive boat, it turns out. Even here and now.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Two-Minute Drill for Jan. 30: Pro Bowl Games take place at Orlando's Camping World Stadium
Camping World Stadium in Orlando will be bustling on Sunday as 88 of the NFL's biggest stars go head-to-head in various competitions before facing off in an AFC vs. NFC flag football game. The format is a 7-on-7 flag football game, punctuated by four more skills competitions: EA Sports Madden NFL 25 Challenge, Punt Perfect, The Great Football Race and Tug-of-War. Players from all three Florida teams will be represented. For the Jaguars, it's receiver Brian Thomas Jr., punter Logan Cooke and long snapper Ross Matiscik. For the Buccaneers, it's receiver Mike Evans, offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs and defensive lineman Vita Vea. For the Dolphins, it's tight end Jonnu Smith. For coverage, you can check out the Florida Times-Union at and USA Today's Super Bowl 59 may be in New Orleans, but it has plenty of ties to Florida. Did you know the Super Bowl flip coin has been minted in Melbourne, Florida, since 1994? To find out which side of the coin has been dominant, and to learn how the coin is made, check out Also, just 25 miles from where the coin is minted, sits a high school that will have a player on both the Eagles and the Chiefs, and they're both cousins. You can also find that story at Also, Miami has hosted the most Super Bowls, with 11. But New Orleans is set to tie South Florida at 11 after next week's Super Bowl. To find out where future Super Bowls will be held, and when one may return to Florida, check out That story will be live Monday. We'll have all sorts of news coverage across our 17 news sites in the state of Florida, so stay with USA Today's Florida Sports Network. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Pro Bowl Games come to Orlando's Camping World Stadium | 2MD
