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Last year, the city of Miami launched Ultra Music Festival, one of the world's best-known electronic music festivals, in its historic district located in Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. And now, after what can only be described as a nightmare year in Virginia Key, Ultra organizers announced today that they are voluntarily terminating their contract with the city of Miami and would be relocating elsewhere in South Florida.
"After listening to the comments of many of you (including more than 20,000 fans who responded to our post-event survey), it's clear that the Virginia Key festival's experience is not the same. was simply not satisfactory, "the organizers of the event said today in an open letter. online. "It's Ultra Music Festival, after all, and our participants expect us to meet our commitment to excellence."
The festival does not leave the Miami area, however. The organizers announced today that "they are finalizing a new location in South Florida, which will serve as an incredible and permanent home for Ultra Music Festival". the Miami Herald reports that the festival could set up in Homestead, in rural Dade County.
In a phone call with New timesMayor Francis Suarez blamed the loss of Ultra on Joe Carollo, a member of the Commission, who led the move to Bayfront Park. The commissioner was charged with drafting a new agreement that satisfied both the residents and the festival, but eventually torpedoed him. As a result, the festival was forced to relocate at the last minute to the Miami Marine Stadium and Virginia Key Beach Historical Park, an island that has only one road, creating a logistical enigma.
"It's obviously disappointing, but it's not surprising considering that they were negotiated in bad faith by Commissioner Carollo," Suarez said. The Mayor did not react, adding: "I find it rather ironic that the Commissioner negotiated with them an agreement and canceled the agreement, which forced them at the last minute to surrender under a constraint on a other site, then now wanted to turn around and cancel after voting for this agreement.I find it's typical of him. "
Carollo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ultra moved to downtown Miami in 2001 after making its Miami Beach debut in 1999. The festival's first venue was Bayfront Park, before settling in the much larger Bicentennial Park in 2006. However, the imminent construction of the Pérez Art Museum Miami and its transformation into Museum Park forced the festival to return to Bayfront Park in 2013. to be the moment when problems with downtown residents began. The noise and the crowd became angry for the residents, who complained that the festival was making life in the downtown area unlivable and that the park was occupied for weeks during the construction and breakdown of the building. the scene.
At the time, Ultra was becoming a major brand with the rise of EDM as a genre and marketable lifestyle. The festival has expanded to several world editions including Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Brazil. He also launched a second successful brand, Resistance, which focuses on underground dance music.
At a press conference preceding this year 's edition, Suarez said that he considered the site as a better home for the festival. But Virginia Key residents and officials opposed it. And the bus system used to transport festival goers on and off the island has completely failed after the first night, forcing thousands of spectators to cross the Rickenback Causeway to appeal to a carpool. Mainland.
Suarez said Wednesday that the festival was not unfolding as well as he had imagined. He added that the organizers were in a "very difficult situation" because they had little time to understand logistics.
"I'm sure they did not like calling Fire Fest Two," he said.
Things have improved for the second and third days of Ultra. However, participants always complained about the distance between the marine stadium and Virginia Key Beach Park.
This is the second major event that the city has lost in recent years. In 2019, the Miami Open left its long-standing headquarters at the Crandon Tennis Center to settle at Hard Rock Stadium, which is located in Miami Gardens.
"This will obviously mean the loss of thousands of jobs in our community," said Suarez.
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