samba schools. More recently, Axé groups from Bahia come to play in the state. The most traditional carnival parades happen in the historic cities of Ouro Preto, Mariana, São João del Rei, and Diamantina. Since the 2010s, the carnival in the state capital Belo Horizonte has increased heavily in popularity, Other cities in the state, such as Juiz de Fora, Abaeté, Pompéu, and Três Pontas, also have popular parades. Ouro Preto is popular among college students. The city has a large proportion of students, who during the year live in places called Repúblicas (a Brazilian equivalent to a frat house). During carnival, the Repúblicas turn to affordable accommodation for both residents and visitors coming from all over the country. The city hills, narrow streets, and stone pavement prevent traffic of heavy sound trucks. Zé Pereira dos Lacaios, the oldest carnival block in Brazil with more than 150 years, parade in the city. The first carnival party in Belo Horizonte happened in 1897, even before the inauguration of the city. Still, for decades the carnival in the city was not as popular as in historical cities. Only in the 2010s the situation has changed, and the carnival started gaining increasing popularity. In 2017, Belo Horizonte had the largest carnival in its history and the third-largest in Brazil. There were more than three million people on the streets, with about 500,00 tourists. The Baianas Ozadas block hit a record audience of 500,000 people. Juiz de Fora had one of the three largest carnivals in Brazil in the 1980s. But it has been steadily losing popularity. A deadlock between the league of local samba schools (LIESJUF) and the municipality's culture agency (Funalfa) prevented parades in the city since 2016. As a temporary solution, the parades have been held at Intendente Magalhães. Others Some Southern cities such as Uruguaiana, Florianópolis, and Porto Alegre have smaller samba school groups or blocos, but like São Paulo state towns, they seem to prefer balls to street dancing. Curitiba hosts modest carnival celebrations similar to those of other Brazilian cities and events such as Curitiba Rock Festival and a carnival Zombie Walk, all supported by Cultural Foundation of Curitiba which operates under supervision of government of Curitiba. Sambódromo The Carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo take place in their sambódromos, located close to the city center. In the Rio Sambódromo, the parades start at 20:00