Full Edition: July 20, 2026

the

Island Brief

Amelia Island • Nassau County • First Coast

Good Morning, Nassau County! It is shaping up to be a hot one, with the heat index flirting with 103 by afternoon, so this is a morning-errands, shady-afternoon kind of week. There is real substance on the calendar, though. The most expensive project in city history goes to a vote tomorrow night, a long-awaited roundabout is finally open on the south end, and the quiet countdown to the first day of school has begun. Grab your coffee and a tall glass of water. Here is everything worth knowing to start your week.

Fernandina ⛅ 90°/79°

Yulee ⛅ 91°/78°

Callahan ⛅ 92°/77°

Hilliard ⛅ 92°/77°

📰	Top Stories

The plan to rebuild the aging Fernandina Harbor Marina, now pegged at roughly $12.53 million, goes before the City Commission tomorrow night, Tuesday, July 21. Staff have called it the most expensive capital project in the city's history. If commissioners sign off, construction would start in mid-August, the former Brett's Waterway Cafe would come down before the end of the year, and the whole job would wrap by late 2027. The design covers a new bulkhead, reconfigured docks, and a pier engineered to potentially carry a future marina building down the road. This is the decision that sets the downtown waterfront's course for years, so it is the one to watch this week.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

The new roundabout where Buccaneer Trail meets Amelia Island Parkway is open, and it did not take long for the "there is no way a big truck makes that turn" comments to start rolling in online. Nassau County pushed back last week: the compact size is the whole point. That raised, paved ring around the center island is a truck apron, built so tractor-trailers, school buses, and fire engines can swing their back wheels across it while everyone else stays in the lane. A bigger circle would let cars move faster, the county says, which cancels out the main safety benefit of slowing traffic before it enters. The roundabout is one of the last pieces of the long Amelia Island Parkway project, which also added a new multi-use path and is finally wrapping up this month.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

A Fernandina Beach family is one of thousands across Florida caught in a stalled expansion of KidCare, the state's health-insurance program for children in lower-income working families. The Observer profiled 11-year-old Adelynne LeBlanc, who has cerebral palsy and needs care from as many as six specialists. Her parents say the plan they can afford does not stretch far enough, and they have been putting premiums and copays on a credit card. Lawmakers voted in 2023 to raise the income limits so more families would qualify, but the state has not put the change into effect while a related legal fight plays out. Advocates estimate roughly 40,000 children are waiting, in a state with one of the highest rates of uninsured kids in the country.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

With the heat index climbing toward 103 again this week, it is worth knowing Fernandina Beach has a cooling center. The Nassau County Extreme Weather Coalition runs it out of the First Missionary Baptist Church Fellowship Hall at 32 South Ninth Street, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the hottest afternoons, when the heat index is forecast into the triple digits. It is open to anyone who needs it, from neighbors without air conditioning to people living outside, and it runs entirely on volunteers. Co-founder Sarah Flint says the center has already opened on a handful of days this summer. A sandwich-board sign out front tells you when it is open, and the coalition posts the day's status on its page and Facebook.

Read More → Nassau County Extreme Weather Coalition

📍	Around Nassau County

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Fernandina Beach: The city is bringing back its Citizens' Academy, the behind-the-scenes program that walks residents through how local government actually runs, from budgets to public safety. It is a good fit for anyone who has ever sat through a commission meeting and wanted the fuller picture. (More)

➤	Amelia Island: The Amelia Island Museum of History has landed the Smithsonian's traveling "Americans" exhibit, opening in step with the nation's 250th-anniversary year, and is lining up its August Brown Bag lunch talks alongside it. A strong rainy-day, beat-the-heat outing. (More)

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Countywide: Is the island's summer softening? The Amelia Island Tourist Development Council meets Wednesday with late-summer bookings on its mind, after officials flagged August and September hotel reservations running more than 20 percent behind last year. It is the number to watch as the shoulder season arrives.

📌	Briefly Noted

🗓️	This Week on the Island

TUE 21

City Commission Meeting City Hall, 204 Ash Street • 6:00 PM • The commission takes up the roughly $12.5 million marina rebuild; agendas post to the CivicClerk portal

SAT 25

Fernandina Beach Farmers Market North 7th Street, historic downtown • 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM • Produce, seafood, and local makers, rain or shine; get there early before the heat

SAT 25

Fernandina Beach Arts Market 506 Centre Street • 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM • Fourth-Saturday market of local artists and makers, alongside the farmers market downtown

SUN 26

Summer Sunset Concert: Morelli & the Groove Amelia River waterfront, downtown Front Street • 6:00 to 9:00 PM • Free live music at sunset with food, local vendors, and activities for the kids; bring a blanket or lawn chair

School is back in session Monday, August 10, which means the long, loose days of summer are almost gone. Before the alarm clocks and carpool lines take over, what is the one last-hurrah summer outing you still want to squeeze in, whether it is with the kids, the grandkids, or just yourself? Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.

Florida's oldest surviving lighthouse still stands watch on Amelia Island, but its bricks are older than the tower itself and started out in another state. Where did they come from before being carried here in 1838?

Answer: Cumberland Island, Georgia. The original tower was built there around 1820, then dismantled brick by brick and rebuilt on Amelia Island in 1838. At 67 feet, it is the oldest existing lighthouse in Florida and the state's northernmost, and it is still an active aid to navigation today.

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