III Points does not start Friday. It started tonight. Miami's homegrown music festival returns to Mana Wynwood on Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, with 13 stages spread across five city blocks and 293 artists. But the festival's citywide side program, which it calls Satellite, opened Tuesday, Oct. 13, and runs through Tuesday, Oct. 20: seven days, more than 20 venues, more than 150 artists and upward of 250 hours of music in at least nine neighborhoods. A lot of it is free.

That is the part most Miamians miss. You do not need a festival wristband to catch III Points week. You need to know where to look.

The free nights

Satellite opened Tuesday evening at Dalé Zine, 50 NE 40th Street in the Design District, with a launch for TRiP Magazeen, a complete collection of the early 1990s rave zine made by three longtime scene figures from Tampa. It ran 6 to 10 p.m., free and open to all ages, a reminder that Florida's electronic music history did not start in a Wynwood warehouse.

The rest of the week has more of the same. Las Rosas, the bar at 2898 NW 7th Avenue, has free live music nights Thursday through Sunday for those 21 and over. On Thursday, 1-800-Lucky, the Wynwood food hall at 143 NW 23rd Street, hosts a free grime and jungle night from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tunnel Projects at 316 SW 12th Avenue in Little Havana throws open its artist studios from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, free, with nearly 20 local artists on view. And on Saturday afternoon from 1 to 6 p.m., Queue Gallery a few doors away at 300 SW 12th Avenue shows a solo exhibition by Ezekiel Jabari Binns, also free and open to all ages.

The big rooms, before and after

The ticketed Satellite shows are where the week gets strange in the best way. Wednesday's opening concert at ZeyZey, 353 NE 61st Street in Little River, puts Twin Shadow on stage with DJ sets from Neon Indian and Washed Out, three names that defined a certain kind of 2010 summer. On Thursday, the nightLAB series at Frost Science on Biscayne Boulevard brings Miami DJ Danny Daze into the museum from 7 to 11 p.m. for the 21 and over crowd. The same night, Gramp's Getaway sets up a sunset party at 3301 Rickenbacker Causeway on Key Biscayne, and Flying Lotus plays a DJ set inside Club Space's The Ground room downtown.

Saturday night after the festival closes, Club Space at 34 NE 11th Street lines up Four Tet, Floating Points and Daphni playing back to back, which for electronic music fans is close to the best bill in the city all year. Then comes the closer. Club Space's III Points closing party starts at 11 p.m. Sunday and is billed to run more than 33 hours, until 8 a.m. Tuesday, with Honey Dijon, Marco Carola, Seth Troxler, Tiga and a back to back set featuring Rony Seikaly, the former Miami Heat center who has spent years as a working DJ. On Sunday afternoon, The Standard on Belle Isle in Miami Beach hosts a Lazy Sunday barbecue from 1 to 7 p.m., and Hialeah Park's casino holds an outdoor day party from 3 to 11 p.m.

The festival itself

Inside Mana Wynwood, the main stage on Friday runs from Vania Junco and Connan Mockasin through Men I Trust and Parcels to Cloonee, Tokischa and Pawsa. Saturday's main stage builds through Blood Orange, Nettspend and Adam Port to Underworld and Four Tet. Elsewhere on the grounds, the lineup includes Flying Lotus, Floating Points, Kelela, Charlotte de Witte, DJ Harvey, Danny Brown, Purity Ring, Tricky, Sunn O))) and Miami's own Nick Leon, plus a hip hop block with Ghostface Killah, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Lil' Kim. Set times are in the Insomniac app.

Two-day general admission is sold out. Single-day general admission starts at $179, with GA+ from $199, VIP from $275 and the 21 and over VIP+ tier from $399. The festival says those are all-in prices. Expect an airport-style search at the gate and a strict bag policy: clear bags up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or small bags up to 6 by 9 inches.

The detail worth knowing

Near the old RC Cola plant on the grounds, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. both nights, the festival is again partnering with the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. It is personal: III Points founder David Sinopoli received a bone marrow transplant in 2002 that saved his life. Since the partnership began, festival-goers have added more than 500 cheek swabs to the registry, and those swabs have led to 11 matches for patients with rare blood cancers. Joining takes about two minutes and involves no needles, and everyone who swabs is entered to win all-access passes to the 2027 festival for four.

Cardinal, the photo lab, is also back inside the Mana warehouse with limited-edition III Points disposable cameras and on-site film developing, so the photos come back before you leave.

Why it matters

Plenty of cities host big festivals. Fewer have one that was born locally and still sends its money and its crowds into neighborhood rooms all week: a Design District storefront, a food hall in Wynwood, an artist studio in Little Havana, a racetrack in Hialeah. For a Miami resident, the smart play this week is not necessarily a festival ticket. It is picking two or three Satellite nights, a free one included, and seeing how much of the city's music scene fits into seven days.