JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Organizers are still working to plan for the huge Orange Crush festival, expected to host events all over the Jacksonville area this weekend.
Initially, the event was promoted as an event in Jacksonville Beach, though it now appears none of the official events are taking place in Atlantic, Neptune or Jacksonville beaches.
Still, on Monday morning, the mayors of the three Duval County beaches held a meeting to discuss logistics.
News4Jax spoke with Jacksonville Beach Mayor Chris Hoffman about the meeting. Hoffman pointed out that the Orange Crush festival is not categorized as a festival in Jacksonville Beach because there was never any public space officially booked at the beach.
“This event has started promoting us as a Jacksonville Beach event before they even called,” Hoffman said. “And to this day they have no open public space booked at any of the beach cities. So we’re watching the same social media pages that our citizens are.”
Despite the lack of permitting, Hoffman does expect large crowds at the beach.
Last week, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams told News4Jax the event planning had been “haphazard” and Hoffman agreed with that.
Since March, when the beaches first learned of the event, many of the venues have moved away from the beach into the city of Jacksonville.
Thousands are expected to attend.