Weekend Edition: May 29, 2026

the

Island Brief

Amelia Island • Nassau County • First Coast

Happy Friday, Nassau County. The forecast looks soggy from now through Sunday, which feels like a fitting excuse to lean into bookstores, museums, a long lunch indoors, and a little live music after dark. We rounded up the dry plays, the wet-weather backup plays, and one very wet bunch of boats heading out for the Kingfish Tournament regardless. Grab the umbrella.

Fernandina ⛈️ 86°/72°

Yulee ⛈️ 86°/72°

Callahan ⛈️ 87°/71°

Hilliard ⛈️ 87°/71°

🎉	This Weekend

Sat 30

42nd Annual Kingfish Tournament & Fishing Rodeo Fernandina Harbor Marina • Fishing 6:30 AM–5 PM, weigh-in 2–5 PM • Free to watch; $10K guaranteed first place in the Kingfish Division

Sat 30

Downtown Farmers Market N. 7th Street, downtown • 9 AM–1 PM • Rain or shine, as always. Tents up, coffee on, plenty of cover for a rainy stroll.

Sat 30

Mandrick Family Band at The Inkwell The Inkwell Art Bar, downtown • 7 PM • Free entry. A local family band, a small room, a rainy Saturday night. Easy yes.

Sun 31

Mocama Sunday Market Mocama Beer Company, 629 S. 8th St. • 10 AM–2 PM • Last-Sunday-of-the-month market in the brewery lot. Local makers, food, and beer to-go.

Sun 31

Bonnie Blue at Tigre Island Room Tigre Island Room, downtown • 5 PM • A mellow Sunday-evening listening room set. Perfect if the rain finally lets up.

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Try This

If you have not poked around the Museum of History on a rainy afternoon, this is the weekend. It lives inside the old Nassau County Jail on South 3rd Street, and the docent-led tour at 11 AM or 2 PM is what makes the place click. You walk out actually knowing how a barrier island ended up under eight different flags. The 10,000 BC to today timeline upstairs is the kind of thing you can wander through without an itinerary.

📍 233 S. 3rd St., Fernandina Beach • Mon–Sat 10 AM–4 PM, Sun 1–4 PM • Free admission 4–6 PM Fridays

📰	In Case You Missed It

Nassau County Animal Services has stopped sending the remains of euthanized animals to a Camden County, Georgia, landfill, ending a practice that residents flagged as far back as August 2025. Under a new partnership with the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, the remains will instead be used for surgical training and respectful cremation, at no cost to the county. Friends of Animals of Nassau founder Rebecca Ayers led the advocacy effort. NCAS Director Steve MacKinnon compared the new arrangement to organ donation.

Read More → Nassau News Line

The last three segments of the 3.2-mile Amelia Island Parkway multiuse path should open by the end of July, county officials told the Observer this week. Segment three runs from the 14th Street roundabout to Bailey Road; segment four picks up at Bailey and runs to Eighth Street. Once it is done, you can walk or bike a continuous off-road path that ties into the original Amelia Island Trail and the Amelia River to Sea trail. Speed limit on the trail is 10 mph.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins June 1, and Florida Power & Light, FPU, and JEA crews have already been running storm-response drills this month. NOAA is forecasting a below-normal season; AccuWeather is calling for 11 to 16 named storms. Either way, the same basic homework applies: know your evacuation zone (lookup at onenassau.com), trim the yard, top off the pantry, and double-check that flashlight you have not touched since last fall.

Read More → News-Leader

Looks like the kind of weekend that keeps you off the beach. What is your favorite rainy-day move on the island: a coffee spot, a bookshop corner, a long porch lunch, or the kind of bar where time stops? Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.

The Fernandina Harbor Marina, where the Kingfish Tournament weighs in tomorrow, sits on the Amelia River. The Amelia is part of a much longer protected boat highway that runs roughly from Massachusetts to South Florida. What is the official name of that waterway?

Answer: The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (often just called the ICW).

Know someone who'd love a weekend guide to the island? Send them our way.

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