Partygoers and sun worshippers in town for Urban Beach Week were slow to get started Sunday.
Perhaps they were still recovering from last night.
From dusk until the sun started to peek over the horizon, scantily clad men and women packed the restaurants, bars and nightclubs that line Ocean Drive. They threw back beers and mixed drinks, and grinded to the electric South Beach beats.
The streets were fairly quiet Sunday afternoon.
The main event Sunday is the Best of the Best concert at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. The festivities kick off at 4 p.m. and will feed the after-parties scheduled for various South Beach clubs.
More than 250,000 people are in Miami for the annual hip-hop/rap festival known as Urban Beach Week. The event draws celebrities, hip-hop fans and revelers from all over the world.
Over the past decade, Urban Beach Week has become known for its over-the-top parties and fashions. But previous outings have been marred by bad behavior and tensions between partygoers and police.
This year, police presence was heavy but relaxed. There were officers on golf carts, bikes and atop viewing towers.
The crowd, however, was relatively orderly, police said.
Seventy-nine people were arrested on Saturday, bringing the total number of arrests to 228, police said.
By contrast, 107 people were arrested on Saturday last year.
“It’s pretty quiet, right?” said Miami Beach Commissioner Ed Tobin, a police academy graduate who has been a critic of the event.
There was, however, a wild incident Saturday across the MacArthur Causeway, the 3-mile roadway that connects South Beach to the mainland.
Not far from The Miami Herald, police shot and killed a naked man who had allegedly attacked another man and began eating his face. The incident made headlines worldwide and snarled traffic for hours.
The victim remained hospitalized at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Sunday. His condition was not known.
Saturday night marked the celebration’s peak. The streets were busy, but navigable. There was little pushing as people shuffled by. The crowds oozed positive energy.
Outside the clubs, people waited patiently and the bouncers moved with confident efficiency. Inside, the VIP sections were overflowing.
Crystal Lipford, a 23-year-old Memphis native, was back for her fifth Urban Beach Week.
“I keep coming back for the people,” said Lipford, flashing a neon yellow purse. “And it’s Miami!”
Elizabeth Lopez, 22, spent the night at Cameo. She noticed a difference between this year and last, she said.
“It’s a little calmer because of what happened last year,” said Lopez, a student at American InterContinental University, referencing a fatal police shooting during last year’s event.
The thousands who came to party Memorial Day weekend had barely shaken off the previous night’s partying by lunchtime Sunday.
Couples napped on picnic blankets. Muscular men did chin-ups in Lummus Park. Guys with caps rolled down Ocean Drive on their skateboards.
It could have been any weekend in South Beach, but for the barricades, police towers and mobile command centers.
Sitting on a rock wall in Lummus Park, four friends from Middletown, New York sipped on margaritas between brunch at the Bentley and Best of the Best concert.
They had partied at Mango’s Tropical Cafe on Ocean Drive until 4 a.m. the night before.
Perhaps they were still recovering from last night.
From dusk until the sun started to peek over the horizon, scantily clad men and women packed the restaurants, bars and nightclubs that line Ocean Drive. They threw back beers and mixed drinks, and grinded to the electric South Beach beats.
The streets were fairly quiet Sunday afternoon.
The main event Sunday is the Best of the Best concert at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. The festivities kick off at 4 p.m. and will feed the after-parties scheduled for various South Beach clubs.
More than 250,000 people are in Miami for the annual hip-hop/rap festival known as Urban Beach Week. The event draws celebrities, hip-hop fans and revelers from all over the world.
Over the past decade, Urban Beach Week has become known for its over-the-top parties and fashions. But previous outings have been marred by bad behavior and tensions between partygoers and police.
This year, police presence was heavy but relaxed. There were officers on golf carts, bikes and atop viewing towers.
The crowd, however, was relatively orderly, police said.
Seventy-nine people were arrested on Saturday, bringing the total number of arrests to 228, police said.
By contrast, 107 people were arrested on Saturday last year.
“It’s pretty quiet, right?” said Miami Beach Commissioner Ed Tobin, a police academy graduate who has been a critic of the event.
There was, however, a wild incident Saturday across the MacArthur Causeway, the 3-mile roadway that connects South Beach to the mainland.
Not far from The Miami Herald, police shot and killed a naked man who had allegedly attacked another man and began eating his face. The incident made headlines worldwide and snarled traffic for hours.
The victim remained hospitalized at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Sunday. His condition was not known.
Saturday night marked the celebration’s peak. The streets were busy, but navigable. There was little pushing as people shuffled by. The crowds oozed positive energy.
Outside the clubs, people waited patiently and the bouncers moved with confident efficiency. Inside, the VIP sections were overflowing.
Crystal Lipford, a 23-year-old Memphis native, was back for her fifth Urban Beach Week.
“I keep coming back for the people,” said Lipford, flashing a neon yellow purse. “And it’s Miami!”
Elizabeth Lopez, 22, spent the night at Cameo. She noticed a difference between this year and last, she said.
“It’s a little calmer because of what happened last year,” said Lopez, a student at American InterContinental University, referencing a fatal police shooting during last year’s event.
The thousands who came to party Memorial Day weekend had barely shaken off the previous night’s partying by lunchtime Sunday.
Couples napped on picnic blankets. Muscular men did chin-ups in Lummus Park. Guys with caps rolled down Ocean Drive on their skateboards.
It could have been any weekend in South Beach, but for the barricades, police towers and mobile command centers.
Sitting on a rock wall in Lummus Park, four friends from Middletown, New York sipped on margaritas between brunch at the Bentley and Best of the Best concert.
They had partied at Mango’s Tropical Cafe on Ocean Drive until 4 a.m. the night before.
“They played some reggae, which we appreciated,” said Heatherine Crooks, who is Jamaican. “We danced our feet off.”
Said Patticia Deer: “Miami tun up.”
Urban Beach Week brought an eclectic group out to South Beach.
Kyle Sandberg, 26, stood in the intersection at Eighth and Ocean and tried to convince the people passing him by that their evils ways and gangsta rap have doomed them.
“Love compels us to tell you that you’re on your way to hell,” his sign read in big letters.
It’s safe to say Sandberg’s message wasn’t well received.
“Hallelujah,” one passerby yelled sarcastically.
Sandberg said he and his friend Doug Berry had intended to preach a message of love and freedom. But they had to abandon their post early after an angry crowd gathered in front of them and police threatened to throw them in jail.
A half block north, Luis de Jesus and half a dozen Colombian, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Panamanian friends came out for what once used to be a weekly congregation of percussionists. They beat Afro-Cuban rhythms on congas and struck a cowbell and clave.
Mary Quintana from Hialeah and Matt Muentes from Coral Gables danced until they were out of breath.
“This is culture,” said Edwin Torres in between strikes of the congas.
Then, there was Pitbull.
The Miami music mogul met with hundreds of fans at Gulf Liquors on 17th Street and Alton Avenue.
Fans lined the block waiting for Mr. 305. Most dressed the part. The men wore summer suits and women wore dresses. One woman shouted that she had been waiting for three hours for the opportunity to hug her idol.
Perhaps no one was happier to meet Pitbull than Millie Diaz.
Diaz, who was born without vocal chords, flew from Salt Lake City through a grant from the Make a Wish Foundation.
“She is in heaven right now,” said Isabel Feliciano, Diaz’s mother. “She's been telling the world that she was going to meet Pitbull today.”
Pitbull took the time to meet with every fan. At the end of the event, he exited out the back entrance with a trail of his fans wishing him good luck and goodbye.
“He smells so good,” said one fan as he left.
Credit : Miami Herald
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