Some Ultra fans still Miami bound. Others staying home. Will festival issue refunds?
UPDATE: Late Monday, March 9, Ultra Music Festival organizers emailed ticket holders. The message made no mention of refunds, only offering access to future festivals and other benefits and discounts. Read more here.
Daniel McCalib had spent extra to make his friend’s first Ultra Music Festival an “adventure” — first-class airfare from Seattle to Miami and a fancy room at a South Beach hotel. The bookings cost more than $3,000.
“We spent more money booking all the travel because it wasn’t something we do every day, and because Ultra is a marquee event,” McCalib said on Friday.
Now he’s trying to minimize his losses after the three-day electronic dance music festival was canceled when city officials grew concerned over the potential spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the disease know as COVID-19. McCalib and his friend will likely stay home now, in the largest city in the state with the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.
McCalib, 26, pointed to the irony of the situation while explaining his aggravation over paying for a South Florida getaway only to have the main event canceled.
“I don’t know that I would book a villa at Kimpton Anglers Hotel just to spend four days on the beach,” McCalib said.
McCalib was one of more than 200 people who responded to a Miami Herald questionnaire about how the Ultra cancellation would impact their plans. Some, like McCalib, would like to get a refund and do not plan to come to Miami. Many others, like 26-year-old Athena Haight, are still coming and will head to smaller Miami Music Week events and get more time at the beach.
“I heard that they’re going to be adding a couple of shows for Miami Music Week, so I’m going to see Diplo and Deadmau5, unless they cancel and they don’t come,” said Haight, a Long Island resident who was excited to attend her first Ultra this year.
McCalib and Haight said they were skeptical that public health concerns truly fueled the decision to cancel, citing the longstanding tensions between Ultra, city leaders and downtown neighbors who have been trying to expel the event from Bayfront Park for years.
“I just feel like it’s a scapegoat for other issues that have been going on between Ultra and the city of Miami,” Haight said.
Fans weren’t the only critics. The mayor of Miami-Dade County also questioned the move in interviews Friday, illustrating a fracture in local political leadership on how to respond to concerns over the spread of the virus.
Haight and many other ticket holders want their money back, or they at least expect to get credit for a future festival. As of 5 p.m. Friday, Ultra had not responded to a request for information on what they were going to do for people who had purchased tickets.
“All ticket purchasers will be contacted by email on Monday regarding next steps,” reads a statement announcing the cancellation, which organizers are framing as a one-year postponement.
“It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that The City of Miami has issued an official directive requiring that the 22nd edition of Ultra Music Festival, originally scheduled for March 20, 21 and 22, 2020, will be postponed to March 26, 27 and 28, 2021,” reads the statement, confirming there will be no Ultra in Bayfront Park in 2020.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHere's how readers like you helped us report this story.
After we reported that Ultra Music Festival had been effectively canceled over coronavirus fears, we knew the decision would greatly impact the thousands of people who already had their tickets bought and hotel rooms booked. We asked those that were planning on going to Ultra to tell us what their plans were now. More than 200 people responded to our questionnaire.
Why did we report this story?
The decision to cancel likely means a loss of money and time for folks who bought tickets and hotel rooms. We thought the best way to dig into how the cancellation would impact folks who are most affected is by asking them to tell us in their own words. This means they took part in our reporting, guiding us as we did our job — or, as we like to call it, journalism.
Who did we talk to?
Out of more than 200 responses to our questionnaire, we interviewed four readers from across the country who had planned to go to Ultra before it was canceled. Some told us they would stay home and try to get a refund, and others told us they were coming to Miami anyway — but everyone was frustrated and angry.
What are you doing now that Ultra has been canceled? You can still tell us your plans and help guide our journalism.
One group of residents who are glad to see Ultra canceled: Neighbors in downtown condo towers who have for years complained about the rumbling bass that emanates from Ultra and the amount of time that Bayfront Park is closed to set up and tear down the stages for the event.
The Downtown Neighbors Alliance, a core group of residents who have vehemently opposed Ultra, have already organized a performance at the park’s amphitheater on March 28 — “Papageno,” a children’s adaptation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute.”
Multiple cancellations
Ultra’s message confirmed what was first reported Wednesday by the Miami Herald, following calls from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo to postpone the concert event. Suarez, Carollo, Commissioner Ken Russell and other city leaders discussed the final decision at a Friday morning news conference where they also announced they would not be granting a special events permit to allow the Calle Ocho Festival to open, canceling the March 15 event as well.
“We want to emphasize that this decision is not a cause for alarm or signal to panic,” Suarez told reporters. “Rather we are doing this out of an abundance of caution.”
For both cancellations, Suarez cited guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for limiting exposure of the coronavirus in communities where an outbreak has not occurred, particularly during large events with 25,000 or more people. Regarding Ultra, city leaders said they also considered the large international audience for the event, which attracts more than 100,000 people from more than 100 countries to the Greater Miami area.
Miami City Manager Art Noriega said he did not have specifics, but Ultra organizers intend to address ticket holders soon.
“They intend to refund tickets,” Noriega said. Suarez added that while he can’t speak for the festival, organizers said they may also offer credit toward a future festival.
Shortly after the news conference, Ultra organizers released their statement saying they “completely understand how extremely frustrating this is because so many of you are looking forward to coming to Ultra, having already made travel arrangements.”
Among those: Alex Wu, 29. The Washington, D.C., resident told the Herald he had already successfully convinced American Airlines to waive a $200 cancellation fee. He’s also secured a refund from one of the hotels he booked for him and his girlfriend, The Ritz-Carlton South Beach. He’s waiting to see if the general manager of the Holiday Inn across from Bayfront Park is willing to do the same.
Wu said he is a die-hard fan who would not mind if the festival would give him tickets to next year’s event, though he’s not happy with having to readjust his plans this year so soon before the festival was scheduled to open. He and his girlfriend were ready to don new outfits for an event known for extravagant, colorful fashion.
“Pissed. I’m pissed,” Wu said. “I’ve been to Ultra the last seven years, and I look forward to it every year. My girlfriend, she just spent eight hours shopping for this, spent $200,” he said.
Mixed messages
The city’s high-profile announcement by the mayor of Miami-Dade’s largest city set off debates across the community of festival-goers and in local political circles, particularly in Miami-Dade County’s government, which has not called for major cancellations. Some beleaguered Ultra fans might find a sympathetic ear in another local political figure whose message contrasts with Suarez’s comments.
After a meeting with other municipal leaders Thursday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez cited state guidance in repeating his position that the county saw no need to cancel major events. That includes the yearly festival on the county’s fairgrounds in Kendall, the Youth Fair, which starts March 12.
“We should live our lives normally. The risk is low,” Gimenez said after the County Hall meeting with mayors and city managers across Miami-Dade, where Noriega represented Miami. “That could change tomorrow.”
But the message of normalcy when it comes to events hasn’t held in Miami-Dade, with its two largest cities taking dramatic action. Along with Miami’s Friday announcement, Hialeah on Thursday announced it was canceling all city-run events in March.
In a radio interview Friday, Gimenez said his administration would not have canceled Ultra if the decision were the county’s to make.
“At this time, we would not have canceled it,” Gimenez, a former Miami city manager and fire chief, told WIOD’s Brian Mudd. “Our experts are saying you can have these large public events. There are things you have to do to safeguard them. We are taking those steps. ... Then we should live our lives normally.”
The remarks were the clearest yet in drawing a dividing line between the Suarez and Gimenez approach to the coronavirus. For large events at county properties, Miami-Dade is paying cleaning crews to boost wiping down of flat surfaces, doors and other public spaces, and making sanitizers more available to attendees at county-run theaters and venues.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 10:57 AM.
