The founders of Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival have taken to Miami officials to propose a new 3-day pop music festival called “Miami Beach Pop Festival.” While perhaps the name is a little on the nose, the lineup they envision is packed with A-List artists such as Bruno Mars, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar, Jimmy Buffett, Justin Timberlake, Luis Fonsi and Nicki Minaj.
Steve Sybesma and Paul Peck, the pair who co-founded the annual Okeechobee, have a combined five decades of experiences in production, booking, marketing, and management; in order to help with planning the new event, they approached Miami-based ACT Productions.
The event is still in the infancy of its planning stages, having only just recently brought the proposal to the tourism, culture and economic development department of South Beach. The department has said that it wants to hear from residents before moving ahead with the proposal, which could pose a threat to Sybesma and Peck.
Residents routinely complain about traffic jams, drunken behavior, beefed-up police presence, and more trash from other festivals in the area, including the annual Ultra Music Festival. Whether residents feel that a festival in the winter is worth putting up with those factors another time in the year will determine whether this festival moves forward or moves somewhere else.
You can read the full report via Miami.com.