Is Black Spring Break over for Biloxi? Promoters consider next move
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- Promoters said heavy Biloxi law enforcement presence discourages attendees.
- Organizers did not apply for 2025 Biloxi permits and shifted events to Gulfport clubs.
- Competing festivals like Mobile’s Spring Fling 2026 drew large crowds, diverted attendees.
Black Spring Break promoters have soured on the city of Biloxi, as have many attendees who in the past flocked to South Mississippi for the annual event.
A heavy law enforcement presence — including a helicopter buzzing the beach, a command center at Edgewater Mall across from the beach and patrol cars lining the beach highway — seems heavy-handed to many, concert promoter Maurice Bryant of Gulfport said Monday.
“From what I see, it does look a little like it’s overkill,” said Bryant, CEO of New Generation Event Management. “Biloxi made the decision to do that. That’s what the guests see. You can’t expect people to come down to be targeted, I guess.”
For the second year in a row, crowds failed to materialize for a weekend event that previously packed in an estimated 30,000 to 60,000.
Bryant said he’s regrouping with his team this week to talk about an event revamp or a change of venue, possibly to New Orleans, which he said is a welcoming city able to handle large events.
Promoters for Black Spring Break since 2010, neither Nick Brundidge nor his associates applied for an event permit in Biloxi and did not advertise any events for 2026 on the Mississippi Black Spring Break Facebook page. The page has 217,000 followers.
Brundidge declined Monday to talk on the record about spring break.
2023 shootings changed Biloxi event
Bryant promoted concerts and events at the Good Deeds Community Center and a downtown daiquiri lounge, both in Gulfport. He said the events drew 1,000 to 1,500 people. The crowd size, he said, would have been higher during Black Spring Break’s “good years.”
Another promoter, Jay Hales of Gulfport, said shootings during Spring Break 2023 had “a big impact” on the event. A Biloxi police officer and four others were shot and injured that year in the vicinity of Surf Style, which sits across from the beach between the mall and Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Hales said that he was at the nearby Motel 6 in Biloxi when police were searching for the shooter. Friends staying at the motel with their son heard a knock on their door and answered to guns drawn, he said. “They haven’t been back to the Coast since then,” he said.
Biloxi tightened up on spring break in 2024, establishing new rules for major events. The city and Harrison County denied permits to the organizers that would have allowed for amplified music on the beach, vendors and extra parking. Crowds were noticeably smaller. There were no vendors along the highway or concerts at the coliseum.
Spring Break shifts to Gulfport
In 2025, organizers did not apply for permits, shifting concerts and other activities to clubs in Gulfport.
“People feel unwanted,” said Hales, who owns Slayer Promotions and helped produce the successful Truckin’ the South event Easter weekend in Jones Park. “I can’t come to your house if you don’t invite me and if you don’t want me at your house, I can’t show up.”
He said professional companies such as his provide licensed and bonded security. A couple of police patrol cars drove through the Jones Park event, but there was no big law enforcement presence, he said.
For Black Spring Break events at Good Deeds in Gulfport, Bryant said, a law enforcement helicopter circled overhead and patrol cars drove around the building.
Biloxi police say Black Spring Break, because of the size of past crowds, is considered a Tier One event and is treated the same as other large gatherings, including Mardi Gras, Cruisin’ the Coast and Scrapin’ the Coast.
Hales thinks the word “Black” should be removed from the title. Racism, he said, prompts people to think, “We don’t want them hoodlums.” He said would like to see a spring break with a more inclusive name.
Promoters also acknowledged other events could be drawing away attendees, especially when tourists feel unwelcome in South Mississippi. Mobile held a successful Spring Fling 2026 during the same time. The weekend music festival featured Southern soul and downhome blues, promoter Kenneth “Boojay” McCarter said.
McCarter said his event drew about 40,000 and some of them probably did skip Black Spring Break to attend.
“It’s time for a (180),” Hales said. “We’ve been too long doing the same thing.”
“I really wish people could come together, and we could have a successful event, something more controlled. I wish it could come back and be more successful.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
