The St. Augustine Beach Pier is open for business!

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The St. Augustine Beach Pier reopened earlier this month after several months of repairs and updating to the structure. And though the beaches in St. Johns County were closed since March due to the COVID 19 precautions, they have now been fully opened up for the past couple of weeks with Social Distancing recommendations in place.

For those of you with little ones, Splash Park at the St. Augustine Beach Pier currently remains closed In accordance with the St. Johns County guidelines and will remain closed until St. Johns County opens public pools for family swim time. All other facilities, including rest rooms, are currently open.

City of St. Augustine Beach 2019 Arbor Day: Our Sustainable Future Celebration

The City of St. Augustine Beach would like to sincerely thank those who participated in and volunteered at the 2019 Arbor Day: Our Sustainable Future Celebration. The City was able to distribute numerous trees, snacks, and reusable bags to the public free of charge and educate the public about environmental issues that affect our coastal community. The community groups who were able to attend and present exceptional educational exhibits include: Anastasia State Park, Boy Scouts of America Troop 345, Face Painting by Shauna, Friends of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway, GTM Research Reserve, Home Depot, Matanzas Riverkeeper, North Florida Coastal Caretakers, Sea Oats Chapter Florida Native Plant Society, St. Augustine Alligator Farm, St. Augustine Aquarium, St. Johns Beekeepers Association, St. Johns County Parks & Rec, St. Johns County Public Library, VyStar Credit Union, and Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience.

The St. Augustine Beach Tree Board and Beautification Committee hosted a ceremony that included the Boy Scouts Troop 345 presenting the colors, Ms. Walker Mullin from Flagler College singing the national anthem, a poetry and poster contest, and the Environmental Stewardship Awards. The poetry contest was open to Pedro Menendez High School Students and those winners are: Samantha Brunjes, Jack Saullo, and Isabel Roppolo. The poster contest was open to the 5th grade class at R.B. Hunt Elementary and those winners are: Lani Rei Decker, Emry Hogan, and Gianna Wihbey.

The Environmental Stewardship Awards are presented to individuals and businesses who reduce environmental impact, conserve resources, enhance ecosystems, and restore impacted natural resources. The individual awards were presented to Captain Adam Morley, Jessica Gott, and Attorney Jane West. The business awards were presented to Southern Horticulture and The Alligator Farm.  The sponsors for this event include: Salt Life, Beach 105, 103.9 WSOS, Burkhardt Sales & Services, Embassy Suites, Old Town Trolley, Florida Power & Light, Money Pages,  Guy Harvey Resort St. Augustine Beach, T-Mobile, Land Title of America, St. Augustine Record, Sunset Grille, VyStar, Avid Design Group, Signs Now, The Bailey Group, Anastasia Bowling Lanes, Edible Arrangements, Mischele Miller Photography, St. Johns Door and Window, Winn Dixie, Cone Heads Ice Cream, Colonial Quarter/ The Pirate Museum, Leonardi’s Nursery, Publix, Andy’s Taylor Rental, Cone Heads, Flower Works, and The Hyppo.

“ART CAN!” Beautifying St. Augustine Beach, One Can at a Time

Press Release from the City of St. Augustine Beach (April 18, 2019)

“ART CAN!” is an exciting new beautification project in the City of St. Augustine Beach.  Many of the trash cans in the City of St. Augustine Beach are an eyesore; they are dented and filled with holes. Rather than purchase brand new cans, why not recycle and improve the old ones? Art Galleries of St. Augustine (AGOSA) President (Sylvia Gortz), Vice President (Laura O’Neal), and Ann Palmquist brought the idea of asking local artists paint the old trash cans to AGOSA.  The association members were enthusiastic to make our community a more beautiful place and ART CAN! took off.

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The City of St. Augustine Beach Public Works, under the leadership of Tom Large, began collecting six trash cans at a time and cleaning them so they could be painted by local AGOSA artists. Once the first wave of cans is complete, there will be a second wave of art cans hitting the streets, and so on…until the City of St Augustine Beach has all ART CANS! AGOSA will present The City of St. Augustine Beach with the first painted can at the Special Commission Meeting on April 29, 2019 at 6pm at St. Augustine Beach City Hall (2200 A1A South, St. Augustine Beach, FL 32080.) The meeting is open to the public and the public is invited to attend.

“I hope that this project and others like it will serve our local art community in a positive way,” said Vice President Laura O’Neal, “by bringing us together to paint, create, have fun and support one another, as well as beautify our CITY!”

Be sure to start looking on the sides to the road when driving along A1A in St. Augustine Beach, and see if you can spot them! You can also share a pic of your favorite one on Instagram and tag @CityOfSAB and @agosa_art_walk.

AGOSA is a non-profit organization that works to provide opportunities for professional local artists to show their work at places like The Limelight Theatre, in addition to their usual gallery locations. If you are interested in painting a can, or interested in joining AGOSA, please contact Laura O’Neal lauraoneal811@gmail.com or Sylvia Gortz at thegallerygroup303@gmail.com

For more information, please visit www.staugbch.com, The City of St Augustine Beach Facebook and Instagram page, and sign up for the monthly e-newsletter by texting CITYOFSAB to 22828. Artist Credit for the Cans in the Photo: MaryRose LaCavera, Brad Jones, Deane Kellogg

Arbor Day celebration in the City of St. Augustine Beach

Date: Friday, April 26, 2019
Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Location: City Hall (2200 A1A South)

The St. Augustine Beach Tree Board and Beautification Advisory Committee assist in managing this event as part of the Cities National Tree Friendly Community Certification and National Arbor Day Celebration. This event will include a brief program, beginning with the boy scouts presenting the flag. Then, winners from the RB Hunt poster contest and Pedro Menendez High School poetry contest will be announced.

Come out to enjoy free cake and beverages, a tree give away, a meet and greet with Smokey the Bear, and face painting! Check out an interactive sea creature touch tank, live bee hive exhibit, butterflies, and all types of wildlife exhibits! Also, Boy Scout Troop 345 will be joining us to collect aluminum cans, shoes, and old electronics to recycle! Food and drinks from African Love Kitchen and Espresso Based Treats will be available for purchase.

We want to invite all our local families to join us at this event. If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Walker at cwalker@cityofsab.org

The 1st annual Pups & Sups surf contest comes to St. Augustine Beach

The 1st annual Pups & Sups dog surfing contest comes to St. Augustine Beach on Saturday, July 21st at the Guy Harvey Outpost Resort from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  This fun competitive event benefits the K-9 for Warriors and is open to all friendly dogs and their owners.  To learn more about this event check out the attached flyer or visit the Guy Harvey Outpost Resort information webpage by clicking HERE.

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St. Augustine Beach renourishment project should be done by the end of June.

The St. Augustine Beach sand renourishment project taking place is scheduled to be completed by the end of June, just in time for the 4th of July holiday.  Work has been completed on the beach from Pope Road to the St. Augustine Beach Pier.  The project will continue to inch closer towards 9th street where the work will then be completed.  Check out the following article in The St. Augustine Record for more details by clicking HERE and view the following video.

Embassy Suites to open a 180 room hotel next to the St. Augustine Beach Pier in late 2017

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It is no longer a secret as Hilton Worldwide recently announce an agreement with Key International, that Embassy Suites Hotels will be opening an upscale 180 room (all suites) adjacent to the St. Augustine Beach Pier by late 2017.  This is the property site where the former St. Augustine Beachfront Resort was located and has recently been torn down and removed.

In addition to the 180 upscale suites, the new hotel will feature 5,500 square feet of meeting space, and out door pool and their signature atrium environment.  This will be the 8th Hilton Worldwide hotel in the St. Augustine area and a great addition to the beach that has seen a recent increase in new business construction.

We want to thank St. Augustine Social Magazine for the information and encourage you to visit their web-article to learn more about the new Embassy Suites Hotel coming to St. Augustine Beach, near the St. Augustine Beach Pier by clicking here.

Update on the Beach renovations at the St. Augustine Beach Pier

I spent the last weekend in and around St. Augustine Beach especially near the St. Augustine Beach Pier.  I noticed the beach and Pier were closed around the Pier parking access due to the current inlet dredging and beach renourishment project as well as some much needed Pier renovations.  I also noticed that the City has been relocating beach-goers to the North end beach from the Pier.  I was all ready to Blog about this issue when I noticed a recent news report from the local station, First Coast News, and found their story and video posted on their website.

 

First Coast News reporter Jessica Clark did a great job reporting the current status of as I am attaching a link to their site which provides a great update of the project (make sure you check out the video posted in the story):

http://staugustine.firstcoastnews.com/news/news/81181-st-augustine-beach-pier-surrounding-beach-are-closed

 

St. Augustine Beach Pier renovation project

Renovations at the St. Augustine Beach Pier, courtesy First Coast News, Jacksonville, FL