Miami Beach is trying to dial back spring break — but not Lake Havasu City
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Officials in Miami Beach, Florida, are looking to make some changes to spring break — including parking restrictions, curfews, bag searches and DUI checkpoints.
They say spring break has gotten a bit too wild over the past few years, and these measures are aimed at tamping down the chaos.
Jason Castellucci says a popular Arizona spring break destination is not looking to go in the same direction. Castellucci is director of marketing for Go Lake Havasu. He joined The Show to talk about how the decision from Miami Beach to try to reduce the number of spring breakers may affect Lake Havasu City.
Interview highlights
Does the decision from Miami Beach to try to reduce the number of spring breakers there affect your city at all?
JASON CASTELLUCCI: I don’t know how many of those students decided to choose Lake Havasu City as their spring break destination, but we don’t see students in those numbers coming here. So we don’t have those problems. At least not at that level.
Who tends to come to spring break in Lake Havasu City?
CASTELLUCCI: Anyone can come. It’s open to anybody. We have really two main groups, if you will. One is the college spring break. And we’ve also in recent years seen a trend for more families coming here, for family spring break.
How do those two groups work together? Because I can imagine that there might be some tension there based on the kinds of things that each might be looking for.
CASTELLUCCI: Right. Sometimes families are here in the destination at the same time as the college students, no doubt. There may be times when the family spring break overlaps with college spring break. And when that does happen, families are advised to just away from the areas where the college spring breakers tend to congregate. There are many quieter areas around the lake and in the community where families can go that the spring breakers typically don’t.
What kinds of things do the students tend to want to do when they’re in Lake Havasu City for spring break?
CASTELLUCCI: Certainly our nightlife scene. We have a lot of great local bars and, and nightclubs here. They also enjoy watercraft rentals. They might, say, rent a pontoon boat and go out on the lake with 12 of their friends in their travel party. There’s all kinds of things. You’ll find a lot of them just hanging out on the beach. They spend a lot of time hanging out on the beach. There’s one area along the Bridgewater Channel, which is the canal that runs under the London Bridge, there’s an area there known as Cocoa Beach and they just hang out.
Has Lake Havasu City dealt with or witnessed the same kind of crime and other issues of vandalism that other destinations like Miami and Miami Beach have discussed?
CASTELLUCCI: Certainly not at that level. I mean, any time you have drunk college students, right? You’re going to have a problems like that. But it’s certainly not at the level, simply because we don’t get as many spring break college spring break visitors as destinations like Miami.
