EXCLUSIVE: A field hospital for drunk Spring Breakers, a wet t-shirt contest with men braying 'we want to see her p***y' and a SWAT team on standby - but South Padre couldn't be happier as 100,000 college kids descend on its beaches
- Thousands of college kids descended on Rockstar beach in the tiny resort town of South Padre Island, Texas for a week of drug and booze-filled celebration for Spring Break
- The biggest crowds were found on Clayton's Beach Bar located further up the sand which throws free beach bashes for up to 10,000 party-goers each day
- Young women were seen participating in wet t-shirt contests with one ditching her bikini bottoms and others bending over on stage for groups of ogling young men
- Unlike other popular Florida Spring Break destinations such as Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach, students are actively encouraged to party - in part because of the $30.5M payday involved
- Owner Clayton Brashear told DailyMail.com that any inconvenience is worth the trouble because the students who tear up the beach at 21 turn into responsible adults who will bring their families back later on
- 'Some of the stores pay back their loans, bartenders catch up on their rent - Spring Break is a necessity for South Padre Island,' Brashear said
- The annual event, which is said to draw in about 100,000 students and cause a 100 per cent increase in crime in the beach town, has even called for authorities to ship in extra police units and a mobile 36-bed hospital
Girls whipping off their bikini bottoms and bending over for groups of braying boys, a pungent cloud of marijuana smoke hanging over the sand, and students chugging bags of $11 gas station punch: this is Spring Break South Padre Island style.
During March, the sleepy Texan island community of just under 3,000 people is transformed as an estimated 100,000 college kids descend on its bars and beaches.
The result is a $30.5m payday, with bars and clubs raking in $2.8m in mixed beverage sales alone and the city enjoying a $1.44m windfall from a levy on hotel beds.
But as DailyMail.com's exclusive photos show, it also means carnage on the sand with brawling, drugs and vomiting – not to mention arrests – all part of the party scene.
So crazy have the students' antics become, authorities have to ship in extra police officers during March, tripling the local force, while a mobile 36-bed hospital, usually used by disaster response teams, has been set up.
Much of the revelry takes place on Rockstar Beach close to the Isla Grande hotel, where there are daily performances between 12pm and 6pm from artists such as Atlanta-based hip hop trio Migos.
Spring breakers: Thousands of students descended on Rockstar beach in the tiny resort town of South Padre Island, Texas this week
Bottoms up: Cesar Najera (right) 21, a fraternity brother of Texas State University and a student from Sam Houston State chug their drinks on the beach
Drinking the day away: One woman showed off her drinking skills by chugging as she held her own beer bong while balancing on top of a man's shoulders
Party animals: The largest crowds were found at Clayton's Beach Bar further up the sand, which throws free beach bashes for up to 10,000 revelers each day
Chug, chug, chug: A man dressed in pirate's clothing is seen funneling alcohol down a beer bong
The typical sleepy beach town located off the coast of Texas was transformed into a wild college student paradise
Student Lia Heintz, 19, (front left) revealed that her parents had begged her to be careful before coming to South Padre but said that what she had seen so far was 'just beautiful' and added that she plans to party all week
One party-goer is seen being taken away in a stretcher by first responders from the South Padre Island Fire Department
Safety measures: The rowdy event even called for authorities to set up a mobile 36-bed hospital (pictured) since there are no hospitals on the island and the closest one is 30 miles away from all the festivities
'We're treating it as a planned disaster,' John Phillips, the medic in charge of coordinating the 36-bed treatment center, told DailyMail.com. The Texas Emergency Medical Task Force is a rapid response unit that usually deals with 'large scale incidents' and natural disasters
Local bar owners have welcomed the college students saying: 'They want to put their feet in the sand, they want to drink beer, they want to meet friends, girls, and party and do what Spring Breakers do'
Party all day: Unlike most Spring Break destinations in Florida such as Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale, students are encouraged to drink and party hard at South Padre Island
But with tickets costing up to $50 a pop, the biggest crowds are to be found outside Clayton's Beach Bar further up the sand, which throws free beach bashes for up to 10,000 revelers each day.
Entertainment includes wet t-shirt contests and twerking competitions, although plenty of party-goers spend their time playing drinking games or chugging booze through one of the plastic beer bongs that can be purchased locally for as little as 90 cents.
On stage, girls taking part in a wet t-shirt contest could be seen gyrating for the boys to the sound of loud hip hop, with one even pulling down her bikini bottoms and putting on an X-rated performance after some of the crowd began shouting 'we want to see her p***y!'
Surveying the scene on Wednesday was owner Clayton Brashear, 57, who says the bar usually caters to a family-friendly crowd, although that evaporates during March.
'Spring Break is an animal within itself,' he told DailyMail.com. 'We've got young kids between the ages of 18 and 22, and they're coming to blow off steam.
'They want to put their feet in the sand, they want to drink beer, they want to meet friends, girls, and party and do what Spring Breakers do.'
To keep the punters coming in, he puts on nightly concerts - with this week's headliners including Atlanta hip hop star Future and Miami-based rapper Gucci Mane.
But college kids 'doing what they do' also means a spike in drunken antics and a headache for police and other emergency services.
Ayanna Guthrie, 20, a student from Sam Houston State University, said she had come for the free beach parties but had also seen some eye-opening sights, including 'a girl snorting coke while getting f***ed' in full public view.
Another student, 19-year-old Lia Heintz, revealed that her parents had begged her to be careful before coming to South Padre but said that what she had seen so far was 'just beautiful' and added that she plans to party all week.
Spring Break no-holds-barred: Most revelers brought along their own bottles of alcohol to drink freely on the beach
College: On Rockstar beach, Spring Breakers are permitted drink on the sand and set up beer pong tables
While Florida cities have cracked down on alcohol and coolers on the beach during Spring Break – there are no such restrictions in South Padre. Revelers on the beach brought along their own jugs of alcoholic concoctions
Spring Break South Padre Island style: One popular binge drinking method was chugging bags of $11 gas station punch
Girls wore colored beads over their skimpy bikinis
'Spring Break is an animal within itself,' bar owner Clayton Brashear told DailyMail.com. 'We've got young kids between the ages of 18 and 22, and they're coming to blow off steam'
No place like Texas: The infamous party week means carnage on the sand with brawling, drugs and vomiting – not to mention arrests – all part of the scene. Pictured above is a woman wearing a Texas flag-themed fanny pack as she stands on a guy's shoulders
Any inconvenience party-goers cause is well worth the trouble because the students who tear up the beach at 21 turn into responsible adults who will bring their families back later on, one local bar owner said
The annual event, which is said to draw in about 100,000 students to the island, also brings in a 30.5m payday, with bars and clubs raking in $2.8m in mixed beverage sales alone and the city enjoying a $1.44m windfall from a levy on hotel beds
This year, there has already been one stabbing – albeit committed by a 34-year-old local resident – and an incident last weekend in which a sand sculpture next to the tourist office was vandalized.
As well as causing $24,000-worth of damage to the artwork, police said a South Padre Island flag was stolen by one of the four college-age suspects who shinned up a nearby flagpole to swipe it.
Overall, the March festivities mean a 100 per cent increase in crime compared to the rest of the year, with up to 200 arrests per week compared to two or three during normal circumstances, according to police department figures.
Most are for public intoxication, brawling and drunk and disorderly behavior, with the occasional purse snatching accounting for majority of the incidents during the rest of the year.
Dealing with the worst drunks also creates difficulties for city authorities – not least because there are no hospitals on the island: the closest one is 30 miles away in Brownsville.
As a result, city authorities have had to call in the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force – a rapid response unit that usually deals with 'large scale incidents' and natural disasters.
At the EMTF mobile hospital set up next to Clayton's, two doctors, eight nurses and six EMTs are on duty at all times and can treat up to 15 patients in one go.
And while South Padre Island usually has two ambulances on call, that number increases to 17 during Spring Break.
An 'am-bus' with 20 beds inside and a staff of six paramedics is also being used, while a medevac chopper is on standby outside the local Fire Department to fly the worst casualties off the island.
At the EMTF mobile hospital set up next to Clayton's, two doctors, eight nurses and six EMTs are on duty at all times and can treat up to 15 patients in one go
Local cops have taken a relatively hands-off approach to the festivities with public safety prioritized over crime crackdowns
All hands on deck: Authorities had to ship in extra police officers during March, tripling the local force
'We're treating it as a planned disaster,' John Phillips, the medic in charge of coordinating the 36-bed treatment center, told DailyMail.com.
'Most of the traffic will be coming from the beach side - the beach patrol finds most of the patients. They bring them to us then get back out there to do their job.
'Most have been drinking too much or they've taken something they're not sure about. We keep those patients here, treat them, then release them and it frees up ambulances having to go to the mainland to hospitals in all that traffic.
'We keep the ambulances for higher acuity patients and treat the rest here.'
Despite the carnage and the frequent bouts of bad behavior, South Padre Island is welcoming to the Spring Breakers who visit each year.
Unlike many of the popular Florida Spring Break destinations such as Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach, the authorities actively encourage students – in part because of the sizable payday involved.
And while both Florida cities have cracked down on alcohol and coolers on the beach during Spring Break – with Miami even taking the draconian step of scanning the license plates of every car to enter the city during March – there are no such restrictions in South Padre.
What happens on Spring Break: Clayton's Beach Club puts on risque entertainment for its tens of thousands of guest each day including wet t-shirt contests and twerking competitions
On stage, girls taking part in a wet t-shirt contest could be seen gyrating for the boys to the sound of loud hip hop, with one even pulling down her bikini bottoms and putting on an X-rated performance after some of the crowd began shouting 'we want to see her p***y!'
Debauchery: One woman taking part in the contest was bold enough to ditch her bottoms for the chanting crowd
Girls during the twerking contest at Clayton's Beach bar. Spring break 2018 party in South Padre Island, Texas
Girls participating in the wet t-shirt contests also took turns dancing on the stage and 'twerking' for the crowd
Wet t-shirt contests are a raunchy Spring Break tradition in which women are hosed down while wearing white shirts that become transparent
One Zeta sorority girl lifts up her top to flash the braying sea of Spring Breakers as another woman dances for the crowd
Chaos: Some girls left very little to the imagination as they twerked on stage in their tiny bikinis
All rules were off on the island beach as women were seen performing lewd dances for all to see
Surveying the scene on Wednesday was owner Clayton Brashear, 57, who says the bar usually caters to a family-friendly crowd, although that evaporates during March
Beneficiaries range from liquor chain Ben's Liquors which does a roaring trade in cheap booze for the beach to the local medi spa which is currently offering an IV drip promotion with the slogan 'Party, Sleep, IV Hydrate, Repeat'.
Brashear says any inconvenience is worth it because the students who tear up the beach at 21 turn into responsible adults who will bring their families back later on.
He said: 'It is an economic strategy, it's like a birth. They know where it happens, they know where it is on the map and when these kids come from all over the country - we can't get that kind of advertising any other way.'
For the local cops, that means taking a relatively hands-off approach to the festivities with public safety prioritized over crime crackdowns.
'It is a critical time in public safety,' Lieutenant Claudine O'Carroll, 46, of the South Padre Police Department, told DailyMail.com.
'Our numbers obviously double, triple in growth depending. We have to provide the services people in the area need and public safety is our primary focus.'
Big gigs such as last Thursday night's Gucci Mane concert draw a heavy police presence, with SWAT teams from out of town lined up outside while cops inside jump in at the first sign of a fight.
The March festivities mean a 100 per cent increase in crime compared to the rest of the year, with up to 200 arrests per week
Police say most arrests made are for public intoxication, brawling and drunk and disorderly behavior, with the occasional purse snatching accounting for majority of the incidents during the rest of the year
Too drunk: In a massive 'no rules' party venue such as Rockstar Beach, there are always some party-goers who have a little too much to drink
During the day, the beaches are thronged with cops on ATV vehicles while at night, police patrol up and down South Padre Boulevard – the island's main drag.
'You're looking at more alcohol related crimes,' Lieutenant O'Carroll added. 'You're going to have drugs - unfortunately a lot of that comes with some of the college scene so it's going to follow college students.
'We try to nip that in the bud as well with our added officers, our added support for this time of year.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5510589/Spring-Breakers-South-Padre-Island-Texas.html
My comments: This is what a DEGENERATE CULTURE looks like.
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