For the past four years, nightlife promoter TAI Entertainment has held Beach Ball Fest, a day of relay-style contests between local bartenders and servers, on the beach at 8th Street and Ocean Drive. However, the economy forced the group to cancel the event, usually held in April, until Dziaq Liqueur signed on to sponsor the fifth annual games held on Saturday.
“Dziaq really made it happen for the whole hospitality and service industry,” said TAI events manager Scott Meszaros. “[Their sponsorship] really helped out everybody, not just us [with funding], but also the teams participating. And it gave [Dziaq] a chance to really promote their brand.”
To keep costs down, TAI moved the event to the beach club behind the Gansevoort South, as public beach rental feels are considerably more than those at a private location. But the move, along with rainy weather, hurt attendance for the free event, which averaged about 500 spectators, compared to nearly 5,000 last year. “At 8th and Ocean you have a lot of walk-by traffic and that definitely helped out in years past,” said Meszaros.
Nearly 200 bartenders and servers from local restaurants and clubs like Joe’s Stone Crab, Skybar, and Tantra participated in relay races, tug-of-war, and dodge ball coordinated by Game Zone A Special Events Company. In the end, event marketing company Vitamin C Communications’ team took home the title. Prizes for the first, second, and third place teams included yearlong memberships to Crunch Fitness, merchandise from sponsor Singha Beer, manicures at Nails 111 on Miami Beach, and bragging rights throughout the industry.
Throughout the day, DJs Dysquo and Mr. Sandman from Artist Related performed at the Red Bull-branded turntables set up on the edge of the games area. The hotel provided hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and other beach-friendly fare for the players, while attendees paid $10 per plate.
Café Bustelo, Fuze Beverage, BlissBerry frozen yogurt, and Snow Caps snow cones returned this year as sponsors, though each contributed about 20 percent less than years past.