The “Spring Break” returns to Miami Beach to the chagrin of its inhabitants

Music, dancing, alcohol and minuscule swimsuits. The “Spring Break”, the boreal spring break in the United States, takes thousands of young people to South Florida every year for a few days of fun and out of control, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants of cities like Miami Beach.

In the evening of this gray Thursday, so rare in Miami (southeast), the famous Ocean Drive has become an open-air nightclub. The terraces are bursting, and the party spreads everywhere in front of the art deco buildings on this waterfront. The air smells like marijuana.

A car stops and blocks traffic. A young woman runs out of the vehicle and starts twerking, a dance in which her pelvis approaches the ground and her hips move back and forth.

From the sidewalk, Anita Cheek, a 52-year-old neighbor, watches her. “I was also young, I understand that, but they don't take into account the people who live here,” he regrets.

“They get drunk, they vomit on the floor, they leave bottles everywhere, they do all these crazy dances,” he adds. “I have many neighbors who say they are willing to move because of this,” he confesses.

The heat, the parties and the almost naked bodies are already part of the collective imagination when thinking about Miami Beach and its southernmost neighborhood, South Beach. But the inhabitants seem increasingly upset with that, despite the economic benefits it brings to the city.

Faye Bridges, a 29-year-old waitress, sums up those mixed feelings.

“I love having people here. Since I work in a restaurant, it's good for me, it's good for business,” he says. “But at the same time, South Beach is now that place where tourists gather and those who come for the 'Spring Break' (...) destroy everything and it's not a pretty thing,” he says.

- More police and restrictions -

Miami Beach City Council has taken steps to prevent incidents such as last year, in which police imposed a curfew after arresting more than 1,000 people for street fighting and destruction.

The authorities have increased the police presence in the busiest areas and banned bars from selling alcohol from two in the morning, between 7 and 21 March.

Riots such as those in 2021 “do not make up for the benefits” of the “Spring Break,” said the city's mayor, Dan Gelber, announcing those measures.

“I am sorry for the difficulties this may entail,” Gelber told the local press. “But from our point of view, going through that two-week period is a danger to people,” he said.

On a terrace on Ocean Drive, with a cigar in her mouth and a drink in her hand, Rin is happy and doesn't understand the controversy. This 25-year-old real estate agent, who doesn't want to give his last name, has traveled with friends from Ohio, in the northeastern United States, to enjoy a week's vacation in Miami.

“There are beautiful women, you can do anything. And if we didn't come here, it wouldn't have the same vibe,” he says.

Soon after, late at night, a noise causes a panic scene on Ocean Drive. Dozens of people run along the promenade; many stumble, some fall to the ground. A young man says he doesn't know why he's fleeing the area. False alarm. Several people look at each other a little embarrassed.

The party can go on, and Rin plans to enjoy it until the end. “At least until seven in the morning,” she says with a smile on her lips.

gma/llu