Miami's Ultra Music Festival Expected To Be Postponed Due To Coronavirus Concerns
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami's Ultra Music Festival is in jeopardy of being postponed due to coronavirus concerns.
Wednesday, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told reporters they want to suspend the three-day electronic dance music festival, set to run the weekend of March 20th at Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami.
"I can tell you that in the last 24 hours I have received countless emails, messages, on all kinds of fronts urging the city to act," said Suarez.
The festival has a capacity of 55,000 people per day, many of them visitors from more than 100 countries.
Jammed into a small area, city officials feel it's a perfect breeding venue for a highly infectious virus.
"[Ultra] brings in people from 100 different countries that gather in an area where there is very little movement. People dancing like I have seen for hours at time. No movement other than a couple of feet. It is of great concern," said Carollo.
Earlier in the day, CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald reported that Suarez, Carollo and City Manager Art Noriega met with an Ultra representative Wednesday to discuss the request.
Nobody would comment after the meeting saying only that they would make an announcement with Ultra organizers at 9:00 a.m. Friday.
Ultra organizers have already stated they will install hand sanitizer stations all across festival grounds and put extra effort into promoting health and hygiene during the festival.
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Carollo is chairman of the agency in charge of Bayfront Park and said prior to the meeting that the city doesn't want to cancel the event, only suspend it to a later day until they have a better idea of what's going on with the coronavirus outbreak.
Suarez said if Ultra did not agree to postponing the event, the city has the power to cancel it.
The Miami Herald is now reporting the event will be canceled, but CBS4 News has not independently confirmed that.
DJs are disappointed about the pending cancellation.
"Soooooo bummed. Been working on our Ultra Music Festival - ASOT Set for literally the last two months - finished 4 new Tracks. ???? Hoping we can make this up, at some point.," Chad Cisneros wrote in a Facebook post.
Ultra's Abu Dhabi edition, which was set for this weekend , March 5-6, has already been canceled amid public health concerns.
City of Miami leaders are also analyzing another big event, the Calle Ocho Festival, though both said that one-day event is attended mostly by locals.
