Miami Art on a Student Budget

Beyond Werewolves: Full Moons Bring the Noise to the Beach

BY CLAUDIA SANTANA

As the sun sets on yet another long Miami day, the sound of beating drums rise on Miami Beach, calling adventure-seekers and creative souls.

 

Every full moon’s eve and full moon on Miami Beach, drummers, dancers, and spectators alike unite on Collins Avenue, and can be found anywhere between 75th and 89th Streets.

According to long-time attendee of the drum circle, Mark Richards, there is no real organization behind the drum circle. Communication among the veterans and the newcomers all happens through online message boards, where the locations are determined.

 

“The sites have changed in the past and will change in the future, as a lot of the drummers will move to avoid the large crowds that develop after a few months in one spot,” he says. “It does tend to stay up around the area of 75th to 85 streets.”

The music-lovers become a vagabond group every month in order to evade their obstacles to enjoy a good time under the moonlit skies. At the top of their list are the cops that patrol the area, and tourists.

On one of the largest message boards, miamidrums.com, an angered drummer who goes by only “Mark” writes, “Police and park security are turning this into an adventure. I know one guy who got arrested for an outstanding warrant on a traffic ticket that he had paid long ago, another who got arrested for peeing in the bushes, and that’s just what has happened to the people I know…Good luck, everyone (and don’t give the cops a hard time, you won’t win that one).”

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