The official Memorial Day Weekend discussion thread

[Doug]

So who has been to the Goombay Festival AND UBW? How did the experiences compare and contrast?

[Jess]

I haven't been to the one you mention Doug, but I have been lived in both Miami and London so know both festivals that London Gal refers to. And trust me London Gal, UBW here in Miami is so so much worse. The violence and attitude that occurs here does not happen at Notting Hill. I have been to Notting Hill carnival many times. That is for the most part a street party, and everyone is happy. That is not the case here over Memorial Weekend.

hi all I've just been reading these threads the last couple of days, and can't believe how selfish and moany half of you sound!

In London we have a a yearly carnival called notting hill carnival and believe me it's worst than your memorial day celebrations we have shootings stabbings litter everywhere and this carnival is done in a residential area and so the locals should be really pissed of for two days, but they are not why? because they cash in on the event providing their own services such as toilets and they sell food and drink outside their homes and it's a dancehall reggae carnival which is not everyone's taste in music but people embrace the culture and try to keep it fun but you guys now your something else! this brings money to your little city and all you do is complain so what if they litter the place it's no different to wmc where the beach was disgusting everday but when I return the nxt morning it's clean you have cleaners like we do to clean the streets and beach it's no different to a rock concert because you would have had the same behavior and don't even try and talk about the clothes that some women are wearing I don't condole slutty slutty look but there was plenty of that in bloody wmc and ultra week so what the hell you guys moaning about just take it in a be glad your city is attracting so many tourists and if really don't want be there get the hell out for the weekend!

p.s google notting hill carnival or even youtube it and you'll see what I mean!

[Carlos Miller]

The Goombay Festival is held in the black part of the Grove so nobody else is ever bothered by it.

The Goombay Festival is more localized. It doesn't attract people from all over the country.

It also attracts more families and people of all ages rather than just mostly young people.

[Carlos Miller]

Police say they made fewer arrests this Memorial Day Weekend but the City of Miami Beach towed more cars.

Police: Fewer arrests in Miami Beach for holiday - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com

[coach]

I'll tell you one nasty festival is the Calle Ocho thing. Hoooooooley Mackeral! That was mayhem even by my standards! Definitely want to go back, though. Mayhem is fun!

When is this Goombay Festival? Sounds like something I want to check out.

[Widmore]

I went to Calle Ocho this year. Went to the festival, and had a great time. The crowd was ridiculously large, probably the biggest crowd of people I've ever walked through. I didn't witness any violence, lots of good food out there too. The area around where Pitbull was on stage got pretty ridiculous as the crowd could barely move though. Still, I found it to be something cool to experience. I didn't even know about the festival until after I had made plans to visit for spring break. Glad I left the beach for a little while to experience a different part of Miami.

On the subject of Memorial Day weekend though, I've seen it mentioned a couple times that "tipping is terrible" for the service industry that weekend. How can this be? Isn't the South Beach practice of adding automatic gratuity to everything made specifically to combat lack of tips from many international travelers who visit SoBe and aren't used to tipping? I know that a large portion of the Memorial Day crowd hangs out on Ocean, whose restaurants do automatic 18% so I find it hard to believe that the waitstaff there is hurting for tips. Walkouts are a different story, but where does the non-tipping occur?

[Doug]

Police say they made fewer arrests this Memorial Day Weekend but the City of Miami Beach towed more cars.

Police: Fewer arrests in Miami Beach for holiday - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com

I'm surprised they didn't say anything about the shooting mentioned earlier in this thread...

Coach, the Goombay Festival is being held this year from June 3-6. Here's more info:
Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival | Coconut Grove, Florida | June 3 & 4, 2006

[coach]

Thanks, Doug! Miami Beach 411 meetup, anyone???

[MLL]

Police say they made fewer arrests this Memorial Day Weekend but the City of Miami Beach towed more cars.

Police: Fewer arrests in Miami Beach for holiday - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com

It's amazing this article does not cover the shootings that took place outside the Clevelander on Saturday night.

[Carlos Miller]

I just emailed Juan Sanchez, public information officer for the Miami Beach Police Department, and he said although an officer from another agency reported people running, nothing was found.

No gun, no gunman and no witnesses to an actual shooting.

For all we know, it could have just been firecrackers.