JUPITER, Fla. — A Jupiter beach dance party that started three years ago has grown into a community phenomenon — but conservationists say the popular nighttime gatherings may be putting sea turtles at risk.
Earlier this week, WPTV reported that the Happy Beach Dancing group met with local, county, and state stakeholders along with representatives from Loggerhead Marinelife Center to address concerns about weekend beach dance parties held where sea turtles nest.
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The Town of Jupiter said there would be adjustments to reduce the amount of lighting used during the events to avoid disturbing nesting sea turtles, and the weekend event would go on. There had been calls to move the dance parties away from the area entirely during nesting season.
Foreli Blenstrop founded Happy Beach Dancing at Beach Access 55 in Jupiter, drawing hundreds of people to the beach after sundown.
"They bring community. To me, dance parties mean joy," Blenstrop said. "Be you, be creative, come dance, be yourself."
Blenstrop said they're working on "How many lights, what type of lights. We have already red-orange lights, so we are working on the lighting system."
The Loggerhead Marinelife Center says that's not enough. The organization says it is peak nesting season in the region with the most dense population of nests, and hopes the town will reconsider allowing the parties to continue at that location.
Sarah Hirsch, director of research at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, said light, movement and noise can all disrupt sea turtles.
"Anything that's movement, light, noise, that can all disrupt sea turtles from coming ashore to nest," Hirsch said.
Hirsch also noted that physical nest markers only represent a fraction of the nests on the beach.
"We actually only put a physical marker or a stake at about 10% of the nests," Hirsch said.
"Just because you're avoiding a stake with a physical marker doesn't mean you're avoiding other nests," she said.
Hirsch suggested the gatherings could move to a different location.
"We do have other areas than can be utilized. We have inlets and sandy beaches elsewhere that maybe aren't on the actual coast," Hirsch said.
Blenstrop said the environment is important to her and that the group does everything it can to respect the turtle nests.
"We'll monitor and we'll go week by week as stewards of this local community," she said.
When asked about relocating to a beach inlet, Blenstrop said the group is open to the idea.
"We're very open, in fact we're discussing how to do it," Blenstrop said.
Until a decision is made, Happy Beach Dancing will return to Beach Access 55 on Saturday.
Now a petition is circulating, calling for more protections for the turtles on Jupiter beaches.
The petition asks for "decisive action" from the town in "reinforcing existing laws, increasing patrols, and spreading awareness among residents and visitors about the seriousness of these regulations."
Portions of this story were reported on-air by a journalist and converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
