Local officials and residents in Miami Beach, Florida are calling for the end of an four-year running event called “Floatopia” where thousands of beachgoers descend to the crystal clear waters on colorful rafts. According to their website, the event aims to ‘provide something different to Miami and its amazing people. A fun, FREE and beautiful venue where all kinds of people can come together and connect!‘ Based on the beautifully filmed video above by Edin Chavez on April 16th 2016, it sure does look like a fun event at a beautiful venue!
But, now let’s take a look at a video that Chavez filmed the next morning.
Well there goes the beauty. Now, based on my research of the event and it’s organizers, they have done everything they can to promote respecting and cleaning of the beach by participants. But obviously, some attendees didn’t get the memo, and the beach was left a littered mess of plastic rafts, beer bottles and garbage. Chavez, who arrived at the beach with a group of photography students from Europe, was embarrassed to show his guests the ugly side of one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. He made the film and took the photos below to help spread awareness of the problems that events such as Floatopia cause. While the majority of people are clean and respectful, all it takes is a small group to ruin it for everyone else. Luckily, countless volunteers and city employees have been working since the weekend to bring the beach back to it’s usual state. And even though Floatopia is not a city sanctioned event, Mayor Philip Levine has vowed to end the event to keep South Beach pristine for everyone to enjoy for generations to come.
It looks like the event organizers are just as disgusted with the behavior as the Mayor.
Let’s just hope that there wasn’t too much trash taken into the Atlantic Ocean by the rising tide.
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