MIAMI (WSVN) – As the Ultra Music Festival returns to South Florida in the next few days, law enforcement will be on high alert to maintain the peace.
It’s that time of year again as the musical festival billed as the largest in the world comes to Miami for its 24th year.
“This is a worldwide event,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
This year’s Ultra headliners include rising live performers like ARTBAT and Elderbrook, in addition to longtime mainstays like Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Afrojack.
“We love it,“ said Patricia Cina who is visiting from Brazil.
The vibrant music is expected to draw more than 160,000 fans from across the world, which will have a huge economic impact on the Magic City.
“For a festival, it’s almost been here for a quarter of a century and has produced over a billion dollars in economic activity,” Suarez said.
Business owners also said that they depend on the festival.
“More people come over,” said Milene Miguel, owner of the Cabana Boutique.
Miguel hopes that the traffic from the event pours into her store.
“We think it’s very good for the store,” she said.
Just across from her boutique, Michell Laviera said their restaurant is already packed.
”We have made a lot more money now because we have a lot of people here,” said Laviera, assistant manager at La Industria restaurant.
But while some people love the event, others don’t enjoy the bombastic festival.
“Very loud. Big crowds. It’s not my thing,” said Kathy Reíos.
Reíos, who works across Biscayne Park, said the echoing music is distracting.
“They sometimes let us leave early because the music, like, shakes the walls of the building, and it just interrupts our work,“ she said.
James Torres, the president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, said there is no need to worry.
“The buildings in downtown have noise monitoring systems that are monitored by Ultra and the DNA, so there are certain levels and decibel levels that they cannot go past,” he said.
Ultra organizers said the use of illicit drugs has been an issue at the festival over the past years.
“Every year, we do find some drugs,” said Ultra CEO Ray Martinez.
In 2023, 19 arrests were related to narcotics, but police said they are on the lookout.
“Ultra and the private security have a great team in the fact where we search everybody as they’re coming in to make sure that there’s no weapons or illegal items coming in,” said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales. “We search them on the outside, we have undercover officers inside.”
Starting Thursday night, there will be road closures on Biscayne Boulevard.
- Northbound traffic will be re-routed to the southbound lanes at SE 1st Street and return to the normal traffic flow at NE 4th Street.
- Southbound traffic will be re-routed westbound at NE 6th Street and detoured to NE 2nd Avenue and/or North Miami Avenue.
- There will be no southbound traffic on Biscayne Boulevard from NE 6th Street.
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