When is black college reunion 2022

MFUME'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 1979 Elected to Baltimore City Council 1986 Elected to Congress from Maryland's 7th District 1993 Elected chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus 1996 Resigned from Congress to become NAACP president and CEO 1999 Spearheaded boycott and filed lawsuit against Adam's Mark Hotels and Resorts on behalf of Black College Reunion guests 2004 Resigned from NAACP

A large crowd gathers at an event called FreakNik Daytona on Sunday, March 20, at Daytona Beach’s Cypress Park.

COURTESY OF DJ HITMAN/INSTAGRA

Daytona Beach is a world-famous tourist destination that attracts large crowds, especially during spring break in March and April.

Images of unruly large crowds on beaches nationwide, particularly in South Florida, have raised alarms. Also, pop-up events on social media that attract last-minute and unexpectedly large crowds are a concern.

On Sunday, March 20, large crowds of mostly Bethune-Cookman University students and young locals gathered at Cypress Park for an event dubbed “FreakNik Daytona.”

It filled the park, parking lots at both the Midtown Cultural & Educational Center and Pine Haven Apartments, as well as George Engram Boulevard and Keech Street.

‘Everything went smoothly’

The event was spearheaded by DJ Hitman, who pushed it via social media. He is a local deejay and a former Bethune-Cookman University student.

He told the Daytona Times, “I felt like spring break was a week before and there was nothing going on. Most of the kids stayed in their dorm rooms. So, I felt this was a way to get out for some fun. Everything went smoothly; I paid for armed security.”

Khalil Smith is a B-CU student who attended.

He said, “I went with some friends to see what is going on. It was a good vibe. We were just chilling out. We had no issues.”

Local authorities said the event went smoothly.

“We had no issues. We showed up. We just had them leave the park at dark in accordance with city law,” said Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young. “Also, it was one of the fraternities that cleaned the park afterwards.”

The event was reminiscent of “Orlando Invades Daytona,” which brought thousands of young African Americans to town during Memorial Day Weekend last year.

That event originated on beachside, but soon pushed crowds to Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard.

“We discourage pop-up events and non-permitted events. This past one on Sunday was already going on,” Young noted.

Preparing for crowds

Local authorities are prepared for spring break and getting ready for the summer.

“We haven’t had any issues with spring break that you are seeing around the country at this time,” stated Young.

“We are gearing up for an upcoming event called Orange Crush. It’s the first one. We have some extra resources coming in to deal with it.”

Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood has tough comments for visitors who break the law.

“Yes, don’t come here on vacation and leave on probation,” said Chitwood.

“We (the sheriff’s department) don’t really handle spring breakers; that’s for the police in cities like Daytona Beach, Ormond, New Smyrna, Port Orange, etc.’’

Local tourist industry officials say things have been smooth.

“We don’t have spring break; we have family spring break. It’s great. When the bikers left, families from all over are coming,” said Bob Davis, president and CEO of Hospitality & Lodging Association of Volusia County.

“We also have our local colleges and high schoolers. We do have some college students. Everyone is behaving.”

Tourism officials don’t want to see the problems that Miami Beach is having.

“Locally, we don’t tolerate bad behavior or the truck event with confederate flags. In Miami and other places, it’s not the college kids, but they get blamed. It’s the drug dealers, thugs and others who come do bad things,” said Davis.

Davis also touched on the history of Black College Reunion and what went wrong with the annual spring event that attracted Blacks from around the country. BCR ended in the early 2000s.

“With BCR, I had 10 Black college presidents here. We had a big event. We told them how things were going. They adhered to it,” Davis explained. “Unfortunately, it was never the college students. It was the thugs that came in and did the bad things.”

New Smyrna curfew

On March 16, the New Smyrna Beach City Commission issued a 60-day, 11 p.m. curfew for those under the age of 18.

It applies east of Riverside Drive, and for groups of 30 elsewhere in city limits, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday, Saturday and legal holidays.

Penalties include a warning for first offense, fines of $50 to $100 or community service at an hourly minimum wage rate for additional offenses.

Where is Black College reunion?

The Black College Reunion is one of the largest spring break event in the world that takes place every year in In April. Around 10,000-20,000 students and participants make the annual trek to Daytona Beach Florida for 3 days full of fun, food, festivities, entertainment, music and more.

What is BCR in Daytona?

DAYTONA BEACH -- Ten years ago, people jammed into the beachside for an annual weekend celebration. Traffic backed up over bridges and A1A turned into a bumper-to-bumper crawl with crowds partying alongside. That was Black College Reunion at its peak.