St. Simons Island filled with football revelers Friday, but a crackdown on misbehavior at "Frat Beach" had more cops and fewer young people at the bash for the big Georgia and Florida game.
Still, the party carried on. By 4 p.m., the warm beach thrummed with several thousand young people celebrating, many with libations in hand. Being Halloween weekend, they came dressed in a mix of bikinis, sports jerseys and costumes that included Santa Claus outfits, extraterrestrials and a giant hot dog and banana.
Restaurant managers, worried the crackdown would quash their big-money weekend, were happy to see the crowds.
“We’re pretty crowded,” said Aaron Little, manager of Gnats Landing, a rustic-looking seaside restaurant with a big deck. “Right now, we’re doing as good as last year.”
The beach party has typically drawn 5,000 or more young people to this vacation destination. But local officials, responding to resident complaints, had announced a zero-tolerance policy for underage drinking and more police armed with breathalyzers.
That created a giant buzz-kill among UGA students, alumni and other fans who make the annual pilgrimage to the island.
This year, the fall break event was not shaping up to be the out-of-control blowout that residents had been complaining about for years. The crowds seemed a bit older and better behaved, said Michelle Baruchman, 20, who was reporting on the event for the UGA newspaper The Red and Black.
“It’s smaller but not by a lot,” Baruchman said. “More people are aware of the police presence. There are not as many people passed out.”
Some residents welcomed the new vibe.
“You can feel that there’s not the intensity of the crowd,” said Cap Fendig, a lifelong islander who runs a trolley business. “The days of drinking without consequence are gone.”
The police crackdown did not amount to severe tactics, as some had feared. Police made their presence known by handing out citations for drinking in the beach parking lot. Earlier reports that there would be ID checks and road blocks seemed unfounded. Officers were not checking IDs as patrons entered the beach.
Glynn County Police Capt. Tommy Tindale said officers would check for IDs only if someone was noticeably drunk and calling attention to themselves.
Several hotels' occupancy rates were down as much as 30 percent compared to the full house they had last year, said Scott McQuade, president of the Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Some business people, who depend on the gathering to carry them through slower winter months, were happy that streets by the beach were filled with people sporting the traditional UGA red and black colors. A few held up placards asking for tickets to the big game down in Jacksonville.
Litter was one of the main concerns of local residents. The push to minimize litter began last year when the community grew more concerned about the amount of trash getting in the water when the tides changed.
This year the event had 100 green cardboard coolers, donated by Pratt Industries, and 1,000 portable ashtrays, donated by Keep America Beautiful, to pass out to beach patrons.
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