Your Memorial Day planner for Miami
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Ocean Drive during Memorial Day weekend last year. Photo: Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Miami Beach is bracing for an influx of visitors for Memorial Day weekend with traffic controls and a strong police presence.
Why it matters: City leaders are trying to stem gun violence and out-of-control partying that has plagued past holiday weekends.
Flashback: Miami Beach police made 1,000 arrests during Memorial Day weekend in 2006, but last year made just 90, the Miami Herald reported.
- In 2021, 30 people were shot over Memorial Day weekend throughout Miami-Dade County, including a mass shooting outside a concert and an incident involving rapper Da Baby in South Beach.
- That led to a countywide Peace & Prosperity Plan and a special police operation to try and quell violence.
Between the lines: This weekend is also considered Urban Beach Weekend. Authorities have sought to balance hip-hop programming with family-friendly events.
Details: Traffic is restricted through Tuesday.
- On Ocean Drive, traffic can only enter through 13th Street and exit through 5th Street.
- Traffic is blocked around Flamingo Park and South of Fifth, so residents should enter/exit via Alton Road.
- On the MacArthur and Julia Tuttle causeways, there will be a single-lane reduction of traffic today through Monday.
Of note: Consumption of alcohol is prohibited on beaches unless specially authorized.
- Some businesses that rent scooters and mopeds, or hold events at venues serving alcohol, will be restricted.
- Authorities could also limit music, suspend sidewalk café operations and prohibit coolers, floats, and similar objects if they deem it necessary.
- Plus, more than 100 goodwill ambassadors will be stationed in the Art Deco Cultural District.
- More details here.
🎉 Now that we got the logistics out of the way, here's a full slate of things to do this weekend:
🎵 Kodak Black (whose new album "Pistolz & Pearlz" and movie "The Don" are set to be released today) is opening a smoke shop on Saturday.
🪩 LIV nightclub hosts Gucci Mane, Alan Walker, Wizkid and Glorilla over the weekend.
😋 Smorgasburg's food trucks take over the 1100 block of Lincoln Road Friday evening.
🥢 An Asian Street Food Festival spans the streets of Wynwood Friday through Sunday.
✈️ The Hyundai Air And Sea Show and U.S. Army SaluteFest take place Saturday and Sunday.
- Tickets: $65 and up. Miami Beach residents get 10% discounts with code "MBVCA23."
🚘 A City of Donks car show is at Virginia Key Beach on Saturday. Tickets start at $60.
🌍 The Afro Nation Festival, headlined by Burna Boy and Wizkid, is at LoanDepot Park Saturday and Sunday. Tickets start at $99.
🏁 Homestead Miami Speedway hosts the Memorial 300 race Saturday and Sunday. Free for spectators.
🤍 A Memorial Day commemoration takes place Monday at 10 am at Miami Beach Police Headquarters.
🥁 Miamibloco, the AfroBrazilian percussion collective, hosts a day-long Saideira Social party Monday at the Miami Beach Bandshell with drummers from Brazil and Latin America, plus Gnawa music from Morocco.
- The group is debuting a special Miami anthem — a samba-enredo, a song typically written for a Brazilian Carnival celebration — for the occasion. Tickets: $25.
🌴 The Sandz Caribbean music festival is at Miami Marine Stadium. Tickets start at $60.
Go deeper: For more parties at nightclubs, hotels and restaurants, check 305area.com.