The organization credited with founding Beach Party Weekend disputes its ties to the event, but 23 years after the flashy annual Spring Break-like gathering of black college students began here, the three-day bash is expected to attract more than 100,000 visitors to this Gulf-front city starting today.

Formerly called "Kappa Weekend" after the predominantly black Kappa Alpha Psi college fraternity, Beach Party Weekend is believed to have started in 1983.

Gone are the days of impatient partygoers stuck in traffic backing up beyond the Causeway to as far away as Dickinson. Arrests related to the event have also dropped over the last several years, Police Chief Kenneth Mack said.

Many trace the event's waning attendance to a lawsuit filed by Kappa Alpha Psi in 2000 to prevent Beach Party Weekend from being advertised with the "Kappa" name.

When contacted about the event, Kappa Alpha Psi deputy executive director Spencer T. Bruce denied this week that the organization had ever been involved with the event.  more >>