Miami Beach officials have new plan to calm spring break: Make March ‘fitness month’

Miami Beach officials have unveiled a plan to bring a variety of sports and fitness programming to South Beach next March in an attempt to tamp down on the party atmosphere of spring break.

The city’s proposal is to make March 2023 “fitness month,” according to a memo from City Manager Alina Hudak, with programming that includes beach tennis and beach soccer tournaments, a beach volleyball event involving a pop-up stadium, a street festival with art and music, and a “fitness festival.”

Each event would take place during a different weekend in March, when spring break crowds typically swell.

The city is considering a host of other events during the month, documents show, including a mile-long running course on the beach sponsored by Red Bull, a Major League Baseball Fan Fest, and smaller “activations” by Nike, Crunch Fitness and RCX Sports.

“I believe there are ways to program South Beach so we have more control over what’s happening there,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in an interview. “Spring break has largely been a problem of young people coming here for a rite of passage. If we can create activities that displace that, then we’ve accomplished something.”

A resolution to move forward with the plan and to contract with event producers using $3.2 million in city funds is on the consent agenda for a City Commission meeting Wednesday, meaning it will pass without discussion unless a commissioner chooses to pull the item.

It will be the second iteration of “Miami Beach Live!” — the city’s effort “to change the narrative of spring break and create a platform for expansion in future years,” according to Hudak’s memo.

This past March, the programming centered on a series of weekend concerts in Lummus Park and on the beach at Ocean Drive. The shows were tailored to an over-40 audience — Alanis Morisette was a headliner — rather than the young, majority-Black crowds that typically visit South Beach during spring break.

But two shooting incidents on Ocean Drive injured five people and led the city to declare a state of emergency and impose a midnight curfew. The row of indoor-outdoor bars and restaurants remained a popular party spot where large crowds gathered to dance and drink.

Now, city officials are looking for ways to take over not only the footprint of Lummus Park and the beach but also Ocean Drive itself.

“These activities should take over large swaths of where these block parties have shown up,” Gelber said.

Not all of the proposed activities for next March meet that description. The beach tennis and beach soccer tournaments, as well as the beach volleyball event, would take place between Sixth and Ninth streets at the beachfront, not on Ocean Drive.

The city received a proposal from the National Cycling League to set up a race course along Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue between Eighth and 13th streets during the last weekend in March but is no longer considering it, according to city spokesperson Melissa Berthier, who said the scheduling didn’t work out.

Other events would occupy more of Ocean Drive. The Major League Baseball Fan Fest, which would promote the World Baseball Classic that starts around the same time, would be held in Lummus Park and on Ocean Drive between Sixth and Ninth streets, Berthier said. An art and music festival hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana would take over Lummus Park and Ocean Drive between Sixth and 13th streets.

Berthier said the city has no plans to close Ocean Drive to pedestrians, meaning the planned events could bring spring breakers and event attendees to the same place or in close proximity.

“We’re accustomed to seeing large crowds in South Beach, particularly in the month of March,” Berthier said. “Our intention is to do our best in making sure there are sufficient activations that engage our many visitors in a positive way while they’re here.”

The city has been criticized in past years for aggressive police tactics toward Black spring breakers in particular, including the use of SWAT trucks, pepper balls and sound cannons to disperse crowds and charging a tourist with inciting a riot for playing music from a speaker in 2021.

Gelber insists the city’s move to attract different visitors to the area is about age, not race.

“I fully reject the race aspects of this, because it is unquestionably a youth issue more than anything else,” Gelber said. “It has nothing to do with race. It has to do with disorder.”

In addition to the proposed programming for next year, several events are in the works for 2024, including a motorsport festival and a music festival.

Gelber last year released a plan to reshape parts of South Beach with a focus on arts and culture rather than partying. Miami Beach voters also passed a non-binding referendum last November to move up its last call for alcohol from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., though the details have not yet been approved by the City Commission.

‘Fitness month’

The city’s proposed event schedule for March 2023 includes:

▪ March 2-5, beach tennis and beach soccer tournaments. Beach tennis combines elements of tennis and volleyball. The tournament would feature 32 teams from around the world, according to a presentation, and would be the first beach tennis event sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association and International Tennis Federation. The beach soccer event would feature a televised match between the Brazilian and United States national teams.

▪ March 10-12, King of the Court / Major League Baseball Fan Fest. King of the Court involves a pop-up beach volleyball stadium and is organized by the Dutch company Sportworx. The event would take place on the beach near Lummus Park. The MLB Fan Fest would coincide with the start of the 2023 World Baseball Classic that will include games at Marlins Park.

▪ March 17-19, Kiwanis of Little Havana Art in the Park. This festival would feature art, fitness, children’s entertainment, and three concert stages for New Orleans jazz, Latin funk jazz and country/rock, according to a presentation. It would be organized by the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, which also hosts the annual Carnaval Miami.

▪ March 24-26, Miami Beach Fitness Festival. This event will be put on by a subsidiary of CrossFit Mayhem known as M Athlete.

This story has been updated to note that a fitness festival is planned for March 24-26. Additionally, a reference to a proposal for “Queer Spring Miami Beach” has been removed after a city spokesperson clarified that the idea is no longer being considered.