Athletes compete during the Gymreapers Wodapalooza fitness festival on Friday, March 13, 2026, in Miami Beach, Florida.
Andrew Uloza
for Miami Herald
As the first peak weekend of spring break got underway Friday, Miami Beach officials prepared to enact restrictions on parking, DUI checkpoints and other measures in anticipation of crowds.
But early in the day, there was little sign of spring break at all. Rain kept some people away. And a major fitness event spanning multiple blocks along the sand and Lummus Park attracted thousands of visitors who weren’t there for the typical spring break festivities.
The four-day event, the Gymreapers Wodapalooza, is part of the city’s plan this year to rebrand Miami Beach in March as a fitness destination, rather than a party hotspot.
Teams arrive to compete in the Gymreapers Wodapalooza fitness festival on Friday, March 13, 2026, in Miami Beach, Florida. Andrew Uloza for Miami Herald
The event originated at Bayfront Park in Miami more than a decade ago. Last year, it came to Miami Beach for the first time in late January. Now, for the first time, it is overlapping directly with spring break season.
On Friday, athletes competed in a variety of strength and fitness competitions across several stages.
“Definitely healthier,” Manny Demoya, 38, of Boca Raton said of the event compared to spring break. “It’s definitely better compared to what it used to be — all the partying and alcohol and drugs.”
Manny Demoya of Boca Raton drove to Miami Beach to attend the fitness festival. Andrew Uloza for Miami Herald
Dylan Malitsky, the managing director at WZA Sports, which puts on the event, said he’s been happy to partner with the city as it looks to rebrand spring break.
“We’re excited that we’ve been invited to bring the event here and help them with that mission,” Malitsky said.
He said Miami Beach has done a lot to “combat” the reputation associated with spring break, which in the past has been marred by stampedes, shootings and curfews.
“The city is cleaner, the population is very different,” Malitsky said. “It’s just a different type of citizen and tourist, frankly, that now is a welcome environment for our attendees.”
Dylan Malitsky, managing director at WZA Sports, is pictured at the Wodapalooza fitness festival on Friday. Andrew Uloza for Miami Herald
Whether bigger spring break crowds will arrive as the weekend continues remains to be seen. But if the past two years are any indication, they likely will be much smaller and calmer than those in the several years after the COVID pandemic.
A group of young women from Philadelphia finishing brunch at a sidewalk café on Ocean Drive told the Miami Herald they saw posts on Instagram declaring that Miami Beach was loosening its spring break restrictions. That’s true, to an extent — the city eased certain parking rules and opted not to put up barricades on Ocean Drive in an attempt to aid business owners.
Still, Houston, not Miami Beach, is the place to be for spring break in 2026, said one of the women, Renée, who declined to give her last name. She said the group came to Miami for a friend’s birthday party.
“A lot of people went to Houston,” she said.
Athletes compete during the Gymreapers Wodapalooza fitness festival. Andrew Uloza for Miami Herald
Nearby on Washington Avenue, three seniors at Emory University in Atlanta — Hazel Park, Haylie Li and Nicole Zhau — said they began their spring break with a cruise to the Bahamas that left from Miami Beach, then spent the past few days in the city. The group is leaving town Saturday, when spring break will just be starting for many other colleges around the country.
The students said they heard this year about a curfew being imposed in Fort Lauderdale, which has dealt with rowdy spring break crowds in recent years.
And they heard in the past that Miami Beach “banned” spring break, they said — a reference to the city’s spring break “breakup” campaign in 2024, which went viral and helped keep crowds away.
Still, they did get to experience LIV Nightclub on Wednesday, they said. It was packed, with long lines outside.
“The club was insane,” Zhau said.
Emory University students (from left) Hazel Park, Haylie Li and Nicole Zhau pose for a picture while on spring break on Friday, March 13, 2026, in Miami Beach, Florida. Andrew Uloza for Miami Herald
Miami Herald
Aaron Leibowitz covers the city of Miami Beach for the Miami Herald, where he has worked as a local government reporter since 2019. He was part of a team that won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside. He is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School’s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
