The Ultra Music Festival will not return next year to Miami, marking the end of two decades of danceable electronic music presentations by the b
Ultra announced it’s farewell in a letter sent Wednesday afternoon, which simultaneously interrupted the festival’s long history with the City of Miami.
Organizers are now backing off on an agreement that allowed them to hold the most recent event at Virginia Key, a controversial move driven by commissioners who pulled out the Bayfront Park festival in September.
Under the contract, Ultra and the city can revoke the agreement within 60 days of the end of the festival each year. This Wednesday, the day before the commissioners had planned to vote on the return of the festival, Ultra organizers made their decision.
The next venue for the festival could be Homestead, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
In a statement sent on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, the festival recognized participants’ complaints about the Virginia Key experience.
“After hearing the opinion of many of you (including 20,000 who participated in our survey after the event), it is clear that the Virginia Key experience was simply not good enough,” the statement said.
Ultra did not disclose the festival’s new venue in its statement, but Homestead officials confirmed that they are negotiating to hold the activity in that city south of Miami-Dade. City manager George Gretsas told local media outlets that he has been informed of the talks between the organizers of Ultra and Homestead-Miami Speedway, which moved his councilmen on Wednesday.
“We hope that at some point they will officially present a proposal,” Gretsas said.
In Miami, the city manager met quickly with Mayor Francis Suarez and senior officials to discuss the letter. Gonzalez delivered copies of the letter to the commissioners, who had been discussing the future of the Coconut Grove Playhouse for several hours.
“On the one hand, we are saddened that the event leaves Miami after its first year at Virginia Key,” Mayor Suarez told the Herald after learning of the decision. “On the other hand, we observed that Ultra had significant logistical problems in that place.”
Gonzalez spoke more directly about the loss of income from the event, which attracts tens of thousands of people worldwide for a weekend at the end of March.
“It is unfortunate that they have made this decision,” said the city manager.
