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After all the drama about canceling the second weekend of Ultra Music Festival, the festival will not be “contained” or cut back to just one week.
In the end, with tickets already sold and acts being announced, the City of Miami commission was willing to see how a six-day, two-weekend Ultra will impact the city.
The fest will go forward on two conditions: (1) That organizers pay $500,000 to a special City of Miami police fund; and (2) Ultra seek approval before the commission next year for a second weekend before announcing 2014 dates or selling tickets.
See also:
–Ultra 2013: City of Miami to Vote on Resolution “Disapproving” of Second Festival Weekend
–Ultra 2013: Commissioner Wants To Kill Second Weekend Because Attendees Are On “Mind-Altering Drugs”
–Ultra 2013: Organizers Willing to Work With City on Downtown Traffic, Security Concerns
–Irvine Welsh Defends Ultra: “I’m Disappointed in Miami, the Fest Breathed Life Into a Dead Downtown”
–Marc Sarnoff’s Spokesperson: Commissioner Doesn’t Want to “Shut Down” Ultra
–Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado on Ultra 2013: “One Weekend Is Enough, People Complain About the Kids”
Whether or not the worldwide outpouring of support for the second weekend to go on as planned had any influence is debatable. But Twitter user EDMsnob, who created the petition that has been bombarding the City of Miami, tweeted a quote we assume came from Commissioner Marc Sarnoff:
We guarantee that Ultra’s organizers will do everything in their power to make sure the two-weekend festival goes as smoothly as possible. The fest certainly doesn’t want to give the city any excuse not to approve another extended edition of UMF for 2014. That means they will have to make sure downtown businesses and residents can live with a six-day onslaught of festival-goers and dance music.
Commissioners Frank Carollo, Francis Suarez, and Michelle Spence-Jones all came out in defense of Ultra’s two-weekend plan going forward. Still, if the 2013 event has a negative impact on the city, they all agreed they would vote against it next year.
And although Sarnoff voted in favor of Ultra, he’s still not convinced the event is a positive thing for the city.
“I don’t share your vision that you should have this disruption, this Woodstock, in the central core of Miami. It’s perfectly OK to do it three days a week, but now you’ve increased it to six days.”
Sarnoff is also still concerned about drug use.
“We all know drug usage is high at Ultra. And it might be OK for a young man to get high, or whatever you want to call it, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But you are going to have some people try to do Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday….”
Commissioner Carollo, a former police officer, understands Sarnoff’s concerns, but he doesn’t think the festival is to blame.
“Ultra is not to blame for drug use, it’s our youth. Kids will do drugs in or out of Ultra regardless.”
Carallo also thinks the festival adds to the city’s diversity.
“I may not be attending the Ultra Fest. However, this is a diverse city and that’s what makes this great. There is a demand for this. And not just from local people, if you see the emails, internationally too.”
UPDATE Ultra organizers have just issued an official statement on the City of Miami commission’s decision to approve all six days of the 2013 fest.
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