(WSVN) - Spring break is in full swing in South Florida, and while the focus of the festivities has been on our beaches, we found they’re not the only parties in town. The Nightteam’s Karen Hensel uncovers the hidden bashes in tonight’s 7 Investigates.
It has been a chair throwing, hair pulling, body-slamming start to spring break on South Beach.
Social media site Only In Dade sharing videos of the pandemic partying mixed with chaos, but far from Ocean Drive, 7 Investigates has discovered a drive to entice vacationing college students to buy tickets to big bashes held in South Florida homes.
On three separate nights, our cameras were there to capture these parties in progress.
Neighbor, cell phone video: “There’s a lot of police cars near my driveway, just like South Beach.”
It was last Thursday night in Northeast Miami-Dade on this normally sleepy street with a cul-de-sac, and the party was rocking.
This is what a next-door neighbor experienced.
Anonymous neighbor: “It was very loud. It was very, very loud.”
And this is what our cameras captured: girls in bikinis, a steady stream of cars, even security guards.
We saw this girl take a spill in the street without spilling her drink, and we were also there when police arrived.
Miami-Dade Police told 7News the home was a short-term rental packed with around 200 guests.
We found the home was just sold last month.
A citation was issued to the host, who “voluntarily shut the party down.”
On their way out, police say the crowd “became unruly and began blocking the roadway” before eventually leaving.
We spotted a girl showing off her dance moves on top of a car.
Neighbors say they were notified about the pop-up party just hours before it started.
Anonymous neighbor: “It was a surprise somebody knocked at the door at 4 p.m. saying that it’s going to be a small party.”
Daisy Lofranco, neighbor: “The lady knocked on my door earlier, and she said that there’s a birthday party for her son.”
But, this was no birthday party.
We discovered it was just one of a long list of South Florida spring break bashes being advertised online over a three-week period.
It turns out the party at the home we just showed you was dubbed “Wetty the Pool Party: Miami Spring Break Edition.”
Tickets for the parties we saw range from $20 to $60.
The addresses are kept secret and are only sent to ticket holders right before they start.
On Friday night, in what was sold as the “Big Splash Pool Party” — the secret Miami location — wasn’t even in Miami-Dade County. It was in Broward County.
We spotted much of the same there: a line of cars clogging the residential street, partiers in bikinis and dancing, and pictures of this lavish pool used to lure partiers is not exactly the same pool found at the Lauderhill home.
On Saturday night, the bash advertised as the “Freaknik Pool Party – Miami Spring Break Mansion Edition” was actually held at a home in the small village of Biscayne Park.
With around 100 partiers, village police told us they needed help from two other police departments to assist with crowd control.
So, who is behind these underground spring break parties popping up across South Florida?
The company listed does not exist in Florida corporate records.
We reached out to the group on Facebook, Twitter and through email, but we have yet to hear back. Meanwhile, parties with names like “Roofless Miami Mayhem” continue over the next two weeks.
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