Hocus Pocus Returns to Factory Town With a Spooktacular Edition

Miami doesn't have the luxury of leaves changing color or the smell of apple cider donuts to signal fall's arrival. But it has music festivals.

As III Points came to a close last weekend, Factory Town, the open-air venue in Hialeah, is set to reopen and usher in another season of shows, starting with Hocus Pocus this weekend. Your poor feet post-III Points are about to get sorer as Hocus Pocus is coming in full throttle.

The three-day, three-stage, Halloween-themed festival runs from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day and will present dance music's finest.

"One of the really important things we're focusing on is making sure all three stages have a beautiful balance of talent," Coloma Koboomsky, Factory Town and Club Space's co-owner, tells New Times. "Cypress End will be the little nook at the end of the property that will have some really cool underground talent, which will all end in back-to-back sets."

Factory Town's largest stage, Infinity Room, will feature headliners, including Maceo Plex to close out Friday. Saturday includes Jamie Jones back-to-back Seth Troxler and Loco Dice, and dance music's latest star, John Summit, will close out Sunday.

Kamboosky noted that Saturday night will have a blood moon — a little hat tip by the cosmos for the attendees.

"I think the focus of Hocus Pocus is really the quality of music and length of the set time to tell the journey," Kaboomsky says. "Seven p.m. to 7 a.m., as a raver, you can actually catch the sunset on the west side and then catch the sunrise on the east side with the trains passing by."

The Infinity Room made the rounds on social media last year during the Italian duo Tale of Us and its Afterlife showcase. The intense visual production melted with the duo's melodic techno and laid out a heady journey for the audience.

Espacio Proximo is the venue's Goldilocks stage: not too big or too small. "You get to see Hot Since 82 there and see what he does," Kaboomsky explains. "Even though it's a little bit bigger, it's still much more intimate, and it will be interesting to see people who play big festivals and see what they can do in this intimate setting."

Chicago's John Summit's meteoric rise was made, in part, possible by a partnership between him and Club Space.

Summit began his career as one does: a weekend warrior on the scene, taking trips to Club Space as an attendee whenever possible. Certainly, his sound and DJing are on the bubbly house side of things, but the marathon-set DJ plays right after the ironclad techno duet of Nicole Moudaber and Paco Osuna.
The crowd will want and expect techno to close out, and the new Miami resident will be tasked with delivering something darker than his party-boy antics and collaborative work with Sofi Tukker.

"The fact that John played III Points and is now playing back-to-back festivals, he's quickly becoming a great ambassador for the city of Miami, and we're really grateful to live here," Kaboomsky adds. "He was playing at Space before he blew up, and the cool thing is that on Sunday, he's playing before all techno sets, so we placed him in a position to express other sides of him and for the fans to see other sides of John."

Following Hocus Pocus, Factory Town will return for Miami Art Week with Rüfüs Du Sol's Rose Avenue party. Kaboomsky remains tightlipped about the rest of the Art Week programming, and planning for Miami Music Week parties is on the team's bulletin board.

Still, he assures us that the 2023-24 calendar will continue the tradition of featuring dance music's latest and greatest.

"Hocus was the inaugural event for Factory Town; it was the first event, and it also marks the beginning of Factory Town's season that runs from Hocus Pocus to the closing of Miami Music Week," Kaboomsky says.

Any excuse to rave is a good excuse. The fact that you can listen to some house and techno while playing dress-up at Hocus Pocus is as thrilling as it is frightening.

"It's the natural progression for us," Kamboomsky explains on Hocus Pocus's origins. "We started "Halloweek" at Space seven years ago, which now almost a full week — this year, we're going from Friday to Wednesday. We definitely saw Miami growing and the city beautiful and vibrant for Halloween. The demographic lends itself to be fun and oozing with sexuality. Miami is that holiday."

Trick or beats, indeed.

Hocus Pocus. 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday, October 27, through Sunday, October 29, at Factory Town, 4800 NW 37th Ave., Hialeah; factorytown.com. Tickets cost $150.99 to $225.30 via dice.fm.