Threat of rain doesn’t stop South Beach party crowds, Memorial Day weekend fireworks
As South Beach crowds and sports cars passed him by, 49-year-old Shabazz Harris danced in his rollerblades at an Ocean Drive intersection as if he were directing traffic.
Harris, energized by classic Hip-Hop instrumentals pulsating in his earbuds, shimmied and moonwalked in front of the Clevelander hotel -- on one foot, in reverse and in circles.
Meanwhile, dark clouds threatened to dampen the festive mood in South Beach as Memorial Day weekend kicked off with the annual Hyundai Air & Sea Show.
“I’m just getting started,” said Harris, nicknamed the roller blade king.
The weather held up, and the party raged on, to the delight of tourists who were in town for the long holiday weekend and those who paid $65 to watch military flyovers, a concert by band 3 Doors Down and a fireworks display at the Air & Sea Show on the beach just east of Ocean Drive.
Sipping on a vodka cocktail served up in a pineapple, New York tourist Amir Hemingway wore a Versace two-piece and matching glasses as he strolled by the Versace Mansion.
Hemingway, who was in town for the weekend with his cousin Sadie Coleman, said he has visited South Beach for Memorial Day weekend previously and loves the energy in the streets.
“This is when summer begins,” he said.
Hemingway said he was also in town for Sizzle Miami’s “Black gay pride” festivities and enjoyed the diversity of tourists he was seeing, including some from Alaska.
Asked if he saw any of the fighter jets flying overhead, Hemingway said he wasn’t around for that because they flew in around 6 p.m.
“Well, I flew in on a jet,” he said.
Despite the customarily heavy police presence in South Beach for the party weekend, Coleman and Hemingway said police were keeping their distance and not bothering them despite laws against open containers.
Police were mostly confined to Lummus Park but also roved around the area on foot, on bicycles and on off-road vehicles.
“They’re allowing tourists to be tourists this year,” Coleman said.
Coleman, also from New York, said she came last year but Ocean Drive was closed to cars. The city reopened the world-famous beachfront strip to a single lane of traffic in January.
Coleman said she said she was happy to see the parade of cars -- the likes of Rolls Royce, Lamborghini and three-wheeled slingshots were a normal sight -- returning to show off their throttle, but the traffic made the street look like a parking lot on Saturday and drivers couldn’t do much but play their music and rev their cars in place.
Traffic was just as bad, or worse, on nearby Washington Avenue, after police created a traffic loop from 16th to Fifth streets.
“I love the cars that we’re seeing,” Coleman said.
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