| 📅 Monday, July 6, 2026 Full Edition | Fernandina Beach ☀️ 91°/78° |
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Fernandina
☀️ 91°/78°
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Yulee
☀️ 92°/77°
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Callahan
☀️ 93°/75°
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Hilliard
☀️ 93°/75°
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| 📰 | Top Stories |
After months of workshops and two readings, the city's e-bike and personal mobility ordinance comes back for its third and final reading Tuesday, July 7. The version on the table sets roadway speeds at 25 mph, or the posted limit if it is lower, and caps trails, beaches, and multi-use paths at 10 mph. Sidewalks and unpaved rights-of-way would be human power only, meaning no throttle on the Greenway. Enforcement starts with a warning and a required online safety course; skip the course and the fine is $50. If commissioners adopt it Tuesday night, it becomes law and officers can begin enforcing.
Read More → Fernandina ObserverBids to demolish the former Brett's Waterway Cafe and rebuild a key stretch of the city marina opened July 2, and commissioners hold a workshop Tuesday, July 7, to walk through the numbers, weigh funding options, and hear where the project stands. Deputy City Manager Glenn Akramoff has called it the most expensive project the city has ever taken on, and warned of some sticker shock. The plan brings a new bulkhead, reconfigured docks, and infrastructure built to one day support a marina building. Construction could start around August 10, with Brett's itself slated to come down in September.
Read More → Fernandina ObserverThe August 18 city election is six weeks out, and the Fernandina Observer has begun rolling out profiles of the candidates so voters can size them up side by side. First up is Scott Inglis, one of the contenders in the Seat 4 commission race, laying out where he stands on the issues facing the city. The same ballot carries the mayor's race between Genece Minshew and Tim Poynter, along with the paid-parking referendum that has drawn the most attention all summer. More candidate profiles are on the way in the weeks ahead.
Read More → Fernandina ObserverAmelia Island Sea Turtle Watch marked its 200th nest of the 2026 season in late June, a number the all-volunteer group has reached only once before. Most of the nests belong to loggerheads, and volunteers credit a year when a lot of females came ashore to nest around the same stretch of weeks. The group monitors the island's 11.5 miles of beach right through the summer. You can help the cause by keeping beachfront lights low after dark and filling in any holes you dig before you head home.
Read More → News-Leader| 📍 | Around Nassau County |
| ➤ | Callahan: The West Nassau Historical Society just put out a revised cookbook that runs local recipes alongside 250 years of American food history, tied to its Smithsonian-affiliated exhibit. Find it at the Train Depot Museum on Dixie Avenue or on Amazon. (More) |
| ➤ | Downtown Fernandina: The Ash Street drainage project is in its final stretch. Most of the corridor has traffic back on fresh asphalt, but the block between South Second and Front stays closed while crews finish a new stormwater pump station. (More) |
| ➤ | Countywide: Nassau County's data-center fact-finding committee has wrapped its public workshops and moved into a roughly 30-day stretch of drafting recommendations on zoning and rural character for the county commission to weigh at future public hearings. |
| ➤ | Amelia Island: Over on the Egans Creek Greenway, naturalist Angela Ray's latest column points out the prickly pear cacti thriving right in the salt marsh, nowhere near the desert you would expect them in. A nice reminder of how varied the island's ecology really is. (More) |
| 📌 | Briefly Noted |
- The community is remembering John "Jack" Heard, whose family's Oxley-Heard name has been part of Fernandina life for more than half a century.
- Fernandina Beach High teacher Sarah Twardy, a finalist for 2027 Florida Teacher of the Year, could learn this month whether she takes the state title.
- It is a hot one this week, with the heat index climbing toward 105 on Tuesday. Drink water, find shade in the afternoons, and check on older neighbors.
- The St. Johns River Water Management District's water shortage warning is still in effect, so keep lawn irrigation to your assigned days.
- The Amelia Island Parkway multi-use path remains on track to finish by the end of July, connecting the trail from the island's south tip up toward Eighth Street.
| 🗓️ | This Week on the Island |
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TUE
07
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City Hall Chambers, 204 Ash St • 6 p.m. • The e-bike final vote and the marina rebuild bids top a busy agenda. Full agenda on the city portal.
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THU
09
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Amelia Musical Playhouse, 1955 Island Walkway • Thu–Sat, July 9–11 • The theater's summer comedy revue. Check the site for showtimes and tickets.
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SAT
11
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Fernandina Beach Farmers Market
N. 7th Street, historic downtown • 9 a.m.–1 p.m. • Local produce, plants, and prepared food, rain or shine.
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SAT
11
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Fernandina Beach Arts Market
506 Centre Street • 9 a.m.–1 p.m. • The second-Saturday market of local artists, makers, and crafters downtown.
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With the e-bike rules up for a final vote this week, we want to hear from you. Have close calls with fast e-bikes on our streets, sidewalks, or the Greenway changed how you get around town? Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.
Nearly all of the sea turtles nesting on Amelia Island this summer belong to one species, known for its powerful jaws and reddish-brown shell. It is the same turtle behind the island's 200th nest of the year. Which species is it?
Answer: The loggerhead, Florida's most common nesting sea turtle.
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Fernandina Beach, FL 32034