Weekend Edition: July 24, 2026

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Island Brief

Amelia Island • Nassau County • First Coast

Happy Friday, Nassau County! Big week down on the water: the city finally signed off on the marina rebuild, which means the downtown riverfront we all know is about to start changing for good. The weekend, though, is for slowing down. It is a hot one, with a heat index near 100 and storms more likely on Sunday, so the plan is simple. Get your fun in early, then go find some air conditioning. There is jazz downtown, markets on every corner, and a museum worth ducking into. Here is what is worth leaving the house for this weekend.

Fernandina ⛅ 93°/77° Yulee ⛅ 94°/76°

Callahan ⛅ 95°/75° Hilliard ⛅ 95°/75°

🎉	This Weekend

SAT 25

The Story of Jazz: Brazilian Fantasy Story & Song, 1430 Park Ave • Saturday, 5–6:30 PM • Local legend Les DeMerle and his band, with vocalist Bonnie Eisele, trace jazz from big band through bossa nova. Part three of the gallery's summer series. $35 at the door or online

SAT 25

Fernandina Beach Farmers Market N. 7th Street, downtown • Saturday, 9 AM–1 PM • Local produce, seafood, flowers, and baked goods, rain or shine. Get there early before the heat sets in

SAT 25

Fernandina Beach Arts Market 506 Centre Street • Saturday, 9 AM–1 PM • The fourth-Saturday market of local artists and makers, set up right alongside the farmers market downtown

SUN 26

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

🍽️

Try This

When the heat index hits triple digits and the afternoon sky turns dark, this is the place to be. The museum lives inside the old Nassau County jail on Third Street, and it just brought in the Smithsonian's traveling "Americans" exhibit for the country's 250th year, so there is something new to see even if you have been before. Time your visit around one of the docent-led tours, at 11 or 2 on Saturday and at 2 on Sunday, and you get the island's whole eight-flags story from someone who loves telling it. Cool, dry, and genuinely interesting: the perfect Sunday-storm plan.

📍 233 S. Third Street, downtown Fernandina Beach • Sat 10 AM–4 PM, Sun 1–4 PM • (904) 261-7378

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📰	In Case You Missed It

The vote we flagged on Monday happened Tuesday night, and it was unanimous. City commissioners approved the roughly $12.58 million package to rebuild the aging Fernandina Harbor Marina, the most expensive capital project in the city's history. The plan tears down the long-closed Brett's Waterway Cafe before the end of the year and replaces the deteriorating docks and bulkhead downtown. This is the decision that sets the course for the working riverfront for years, so if you have a favorite view of that stretch of water, this is the summer to go take it in.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

The marina was not the only big number on Tuesday's agenda. Commissioners also approved the city's five-year Capital Improvement Plan, an ambitious roughly $168 million blueprint for roads, parks, utilities, and waterfront work, even as staff warned about the financial pressures bearing down on the budget. A capital plan is a wish list, not a guaranteed check, and each piece still has to find funding year by year. Still, it is the clearest look yet at where the city wants to spend over the rest of the decade, and it is worth knowing what is on it.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

Resin-and-epoxy artist Julie Delfs, whose bright, oceanic pieces turn up in galleries all over the island, has settled into her latest space at Art Amelia on South Eighth Street. It is the newest chapter for the collective, which is pitching itself as a gathering place for local creatives, with private lessons, group classes, and her long-running "Adult Kindergarten" sessions for grown-ups who just want to make something with their hands. If your idea of a good weekend involves a little color and no pressure, it is a fun one to wander into.

Read More → News-Leader

📌	Briefly Noted

The downtown riverfront is about to change. With the marina rebuild approved this week, Brett's Waterway Cafe will come down before the year is out. So before it goes, tell us your favorite memory of that stretch of water. A meal at Brett's, a wedding, a sunset walk, a boat coming in at dusk. Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.

Fernandina Beach is nicknamed the "Isle of Eight Flags," the only place in the United States to have flown eight different national flags. In one wild year, 1817, two of them were raised by adventurers who each held the island only briefly. Can you name either one?

Answer: The Green Cross of Florida, raised by Scottish soldier of fortune Gregor MacGregor when he seized Fort San Carlos in June 1817, and the flag of Mexico, hoisted months later by privateer Luis Aury, who claimed Amelia for the Mexican revolution before U.S. forces took over. Together with France, Spain, Britain, the Patriots of Amelia Island, the Confederacy, and finally the United States, they make eight, more flags than have flown over anywhere else in the country.

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