Update: July 25, 2019
Ultra Music Festival returns to Bayfront Park in March 2020! Ultra agreed to settle by making two payments totaling to $308k, when they originally owed the City of Miami $475k on top of the $2M they will have to pay to host Ultra at Bayfront in 2020. They have changed hours of operation, ending the event at midnight Friday, Saturday, and 10pm Sunday. Although light checks will still run through until 2am. They have agreed to lower sound levels from 110 decibels to 102. They are still working on a bass level settlement as that is the actual factor behind residents’ noise complaints. New York enforces this and Miami may adopt the same structure.
Bayfront Park will be closed for a total of 11 days, 1 previous stage will cease to exist, another stage will relocate, all to give park access to residents before and after the event. The set-up and break down can take no longer than 32 total days, meaning if there is any construction that might possibly reroute people, this could affect local business foot traffic for no more than a month, when previously this lasted 3 months. Seems like a fair compromise? Although two commissioners claimed they were not offered monies to pass this, we still have our doubts. Let’s see how well everyone sticks to their word. In the meantime, let’s party!
June 27, 2019
Trending topic of the month: Where will Ultra 2020 be held?
We are still awaiting the June 27 vote. However, Miami City Commission Meeting includes a contract for Ultra Music Festival to return to Bayfront Park! The same way there was a revocable license at Virginia Key this year, the city of Miami will propose to swap that license with Bayfront Park for 2020.
For the many reasons Ultra was moved to Virginia Key last year including complaints about noise, disturbing local residents, traffic, and pollution, still no one wants to permanently make a home for the festival without restrictions. With the potential return to Bayfront Park, it is possible that the venue will have to close by midnight Friday and Saturday, then 11pm on Sunday.
Downtown Miami residents weren’t pleased with the past long-term shutdown of Bayfront Park to set up the Ultra venue and break it down. Ultra will now be rushed to close the entire property for a total of 14 days and can not take more than a month’s time to use the space.
We’re not too sure how happy fans will be about this, but this could be a fair compromise to keep the event strong in Miami. Locals around the venue won’t have to be disrupted for a long period of time, and the event will still reside in Miami. Everybody is happy right?
What once started as a small festival on Miami Beach in 1999, has grown to a global scale of over 165,000 attendees and 65 million live streams this past year. The festival provides exposure to artists such as Tiësto, Avicii, and Deadmau5 whose careers skyrocketed in the U.S. once they headlined Ultra. DJs almost feel obligated to release new music at Ultra because of the festival’s reach stated above.
“Since 2012, the Event has generated approximately $995 million of economic impact, generating $168 million and creating 1834 jobs 2018 alone.” Ultra Music Festival has made a huge impact on the South Florida economy as well as the dance music community worldwide.
One of Ultra’s claims to finding a new location outside of Miami was because Miami is “simply not good enough”. Is this a sign that Ultra has already made up their mind due to this tug of war? Maybe the limitations above might be a good reason to say goodbye to Miami and find a better home.
Share your thoughts below.
