The Scene

The best thing this weekend costs nothing and starts at nine tonight

A Grammy winner plays a San Marco Avenue taproom Friday at 9 with no ticket, and 55 other free sets follow her. Here is what the rest of it costs, starting with the garage, which is $20 until 5 p.m. and $5 from 5 to 9.

By Dez March September 11, 2026

Aoife O’Donovan plays a taproom on San Marco Avenue tonight at nine and it does not cost anything.

That is the weekend. The rest is ranking.

She is a Grammy winner, a founding member of Crooked Still and of the trio I’m With Her, and her festival page says so. She goes on at Spinster Abbott’s, 61 San Marco Ave., from 9 to 10 p.m., third of three, after Eowyn Sage at 6 and the St. Augustine Bluegrass Unit at 7:30. The venue’s festival page says FREE EVENT in capital letters. There is no ticket and none is sold.

Go early anyway. It is a taproom, not a room with seats.

This is not the regular bar weekend, so do not plan like it is

Sing Out Loud’s second weekend is on, and it is most of what is happening.

The festival’s Weekend Two page carries 16 cards. Fifteen are free venue showcases. One is a ticketed show in Ponte Vedra. Fourteen of the fifteen published an actual lineup, and those lineups list 56 music sets with a start time and a finish time: 19 Friday, 26 Saturday, 11 Sunday.

For comparison, Visit St. Augustine’s countywide music calendar lists 120 performances over the same three days, 47 Friday, 43 Saturday, 30 Sunday.

So roughly every other thing playing this weekend is festival programming, and the festival sets are the ones that are free on purpose rather than by accident. A bar with a band in it and a bar with a festival showcase in it look identical from the sidewalk, and only one of them posted its set times three weeks ago.

Park after five and it is five dollars

This is the part nobody tells you and it decides your night.

The Historic Downtown Parking Facility at 1 Cordova Street, 1,200 spaces, open every hour of every day, posts two rates: $20 per vehicle per entry from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and $5 per vehicle per entry from 5 to 9 p.m. The page footnotes that peak hours can change for holidays and special events, and it publishes no rate at all for after 9 p.m.

Friday’s downtown showcases start at 6. Hornski’s, over on Anastasia Boulevard, starts at 5:30. Both are past the cutoff. Roll in at 5:15 instead of 4:45 and you keep fifteen dollars.

If you live in this county it is $3 per entry, but only if you registered your plate through ParkNow at ParkStAug.com first, and the city says approval takes up to 14 business days. That is not a thing you do tonight. Do it this week and have it for the fall.

Meters and city lots run $2.50 an hour, or 50 cents an hour on the resident discount, four-hour limit. At the kiosk you have to tap the Resident button yourself. The city’s page says plainly that if you do not tap it, you pay full price.

One caution and it is a real one. The city’s Park and Ride Shuttle page says that traditionally the Historic Downtown Parking Facility has been closed during the festival, that festival shuttles are free and run continuously, and then sends you to a Sing Out Loud parking page for the details. That link is dead. The garage’s own page says 24 hours, 365 days. Bring a second plan.

The free thing, and the catch

Saturday morning, the Amphitheatre farmers market, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., free admission. Shop with SNAP or EBT and the market matches you with free Florida-grown produce, through Fresh Access Bucks.

The Amp’s own guidance is to skip its lot and park at R.B. Hunt Elementary and walk, with overflow at the Elks Lodge. No pets. Bring a bag.

Here is the catch, and it is the kind that wrecks a morning: the donation-based yoga and the donation-based bike repair happen on the first and third Saturdays only. Sept. 12 is the second Saturday. Neither one is on this week.

Fifteen dollars with a student ID

A Classic Theatre opens Grand Horizons tonight at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Ave. Bess Wohl wrote it, David Buchman directed it, and the theatre’s own ticket page prices main productions at $25 online and $25 at the door, with students at $15 with a valid ID. Buying early saves you nothing, so do not let that rush you.

The theatre’s season page confirms the run: Sept. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20. Curtain, per the Visit St. Augustine listing, is 7:30 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. That listing also flags mature themes and very strong language.

Getting in is the trick. The address is on San Marco, but the only driveway there is exit-only. You come in through the St. Augustine Main Library parking lot instead. Put 1960 North Ponce de Leon in your phone.

The odd one, in Stetson Kennedy’s house

Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m., the Duffy Bishop Band plays Beluthahatchee Park at 1523 State Road 13 in Fruit Cove, inside one of the buildings on the property.

Beluthahatchee was Stetson Kennedy’s place. Woody Guthrie stayed in the house and wrote songs in it, and the property is a county park now. The series runs one Sunday a month, usually the second, put on by the Stetson Kennedy Foundation, St. Johns County Parks, Lullaby of the Rivers and the North Florida Folk Network. Admission is free with a $10 donation suggested, and no reservations.

This one is a drive. Fruit Cove is up State Road 13 and there is no version of it that works without a car.

The one ticket, and two prices for it

The Sam Grisman Project plays Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Sunday with a screening of the Summer Tour film. Doors 5, show 6:30, seated.

Two official pages, two prices. The festival’s page lists $52.79 to $75.47. The concert hall’s own page lists $44.69 to $67.37. Buy from the venue.

Parking at 1050 A1A North is free and onsite, first come first served, and the lot opens two hours before gates, so 3 p.m. This is the one night of the weekend where parking is not the hidden cost.

Late, loud, and still free

Sarbez! at 115 Anastasia Blvd. and Shanghai Nobby’s at 10 Anastasia Blvd. carry the back half of the night Friday and Saturday both. Forty-five-minute slots. Sarbez! runs three bands a night starting at 9. Nobby’s stacks four Friday, starting at 8, and three Saturday. Either way the last band goes on at 11 and is off at 11:45.

Colonial Oak at 21 St. George St. has the most of anything: ten sets across three days. It is one of only four of the fourteen with anything at all on Sunday, along with Spinster Abbott’s, Jimmy Hula’s and Bin 39. Its own calendar posts the entire weekend as a single entry with no price.

Saturday at Boat Drinks, 123 San Marco Ave., is a drag show hosted by BeBe Deluxe with A Man Duh, Geiovan Cliche and Noxeema Deluxe-Todd, four slots between 8 and 10 p.m. The festival’s page marks that one 21 and up. It is the only Weekend Two showcase carrying an age line.

Saturday at Spinster Abbott’s is not music at all. The sign-up sheet for the community open mic goes out at 6:30, nine Ancient City Poets take the spotlight at 7, and the open mic follows at 8. Chris Bodor hosts. He started the reading series in 2009.

Earliest set of the weekend is Bliss, 11 a.m. Saturday at Ragga Surf Cafe, 134 Riberia St. The last one is Trustfall, Sunday 9 to 10 p.m., back at Spinster Abbott’s.

Check the clock twice on Arvid Smith at Bin 39 Sunday. The festival says 6 to 7 p.m. Visit St. Augustine says 7 to 8.

Skip this assumption

Prohibition Kitchen is carded on the festival’s Weekend Two page like the other fourteen, but the detail page behind that card is not there, so the festival publishes no lineup for it.

The venue’s own calendar does. Friday is Danielle Eva at 6 and Trae Pierce and the T Stones at 10. Saturday is Lions of Jah at 6 and Pressure at 10. Sunday is Reggae Collective at 6. None of those five names appears anywhere on the festival’s 201-artist roster.

Go for the bands. Just do not go expecting a showcase, because nothing published says there is one.

If it rains

The National Weather Service forecast for St. Augustine has showers and thunderstorms likely before 7 p.m. tonight and a chance of them between 7 and 10, with a 60 percent chance of precipitation overnight. Saturday is 40 percent after 2 p.m. and another 60 percent Saturday evening before 7. Sunday drops to 30 percent after 2.

High near 88 all three days, heat index up to 100 Friday and Saturday.

Lay that over the schedule and the 6 p.m. sets sit inside the worst of it Friday and Saturday. The 9 p.m. ones are mostly past it. Sunday is the clear night.

Sunday at 1 the Jaguars open at home against Cleveland at EverBank, on CBS47 and Paramount+, which is in Duval and which half of you are going to end up in front of anyway.

Documents this story is built on

Sing Out Loud Festival, Weekend Two: Sep 11 to 13 , Source of the 16 cards on the weekend page: 15 free venue showcases and one ticketed show
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Spinster Abbott's , Source of the venue address, the FREE EVENT label, the Friday and Sunday set times, and the Saturday Ancient City Poets schedule
Sing Out Loud artist page, Aoife O'Donovan , Source of the Grammy, and of Crooked Still and I'm With Her
Sing Out Loud artist page, Ancient City Poets , Source of the Saturday running order, the 6:30 p.m. sign-up sheet, the host, and the founding of the reading series in 2009
Sing Out Loud Festival, full 2026 artist roster , 201 unique artist detail pages, used to separate festival sets from regular bookings
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Colonial Oak Music Park , Ten sets across three days, with the 21 St. George Street address
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Hornski's Brewing Co. , Source of the 5:30 p.m. first set and the Anastasia Boulevard address
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Sarbez! , Source of the 9, 10 and 11 p.m. slots Friday and Saturday
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Shanghai Nobby's , Source of the four-band Friday and the 11:45 p.m. finish
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Ragga Surf Cafe , Source of the 11 a.m. Saturday start and the Riberia Street address
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Boat Drinks , Source of the Saturday drag show schedule, the host and performers, the address, and the 21-plus line
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Jimmy Hula's , Source of the three Sunday afternoon sets
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Bin 39 Wine Bar , The festival's own Sunday time for Arvid Smith, 6 to 7 p.m
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Dog Rose Brewing Co. , Six sets Friday and Saturday. Counted in the 56-set total
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two venue pages: Lincolnville Museum, Ink and Barley, Casa de Vino 57, St. Augustine Elks Lodge , All four, and counted in the 56-set total
Sing Out Loud, Weekend Two at Prohibition Kitchen (returns 404) , Requested twice on Sept. 11, 2026. Both requests reached the festival's not found page
Prohibition Kitchen entertainment calendar, the venue's own public feed , Five events dated Sept. 11 to 13, times converted from UTC to Eastern
Visit St. Augustine, county-wide live music calendar , 120 listings dated Sept. 11 to 13: 47 Friday, 43 Saturday, 30 Sunday. A self-submitted listing calendar, not a document of record
Colonial Oak Music Park events feed, the venue's own , The weekend appears as one series entry running Friday 6 p.m. to Sunday 10 p.m., with the cost field empty
City of St. Augustine, Historic Downtown Parking Facility , Source of 1,200 spaces, 24 hours a day 365 days a year, $20 per entry 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., $5 per entry 5 to 9 p.m., the $3 county resident rate, the ParkNow registration and 14-business-day approval, and the footnote that peak hours may change for special events
City of St. Augustine, Street and Lot Parking Downtown , Source of the $2.50 hourly meter rate, the 50-cent resident rate, the four-hour limit, and the instruction to tap the Resident button at the kiosk
City of St. Augustine, Park and Ride Shuttle , Source of the city's statement that the Historic Downtown Parking Facility has traditionally been closed during the festival, that festival shuttles are free and ADA accessible and run continuously, and of the link to the festival parking page
Sing Out Loud, Parking and Shuttle Info (returns 404) , Requested Sept. 11, 2026, following the link on the city's shuttle page. Not found
St. Augustine Amphitheatre, Farmers Market , Source of Saturdays 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., free admission, the SNAP and EBT match through Fresh Access Bucks, the first-and-third-Saturday yoga and bike repair, the no-pets rule, and the R.B. Hunt Elementary and Elks Lodge parking guidance
A Classic Theatre, ticket prices , $25 online and at the door for main productions, $15 for students with valid ID, all main productions at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Ave
A Classic Theatre, 2026-2027 season , Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl, directed by David Buchman, Sept. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20, 2026, at The Waterworks
Visit St. Augustine listing, A Classic Theatre: Grand Horizons , Source of the curtain times, the mature-content note, and the exit-only driveway and library-lot directions
Visit St. Augustine listing, Sundays at Stetson's , Source of the Sept. 13 date and 2 to 4 p.m. time, the Duffy Bishop Band booking, free admission with a $10 suggested donation, no reservations, the indoor location, the Beluthahatchee Park address, the county-park and Stetson Kennedy history, and the sponsor list
Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, Sam Grisman Project LIVE! and Summer Tour Film , The venue's own page: doors 5 p.m., start 6:30 p.m., seated, tickets $44.69 to $67.37
Sing Out Loud, Sam Grisman Project and Summer Tour Film , The festival's page for the same show: doors 5 p.m., start 6:30 p.m., tickets $52.79 to $75.47
Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, Directions and Parking , Onsite parking free and first come first served, lot opens two hours before gates, address 1050 A1A North
National Weather Service Jacksonville, forecast for St. Augustine , Forecast generated 2026-09-11T14:09:24Z, which is 10:09 a.m. Eastern. Grid point resolved from api.weather.gov/points/29.8947,-81.3145
Jacksonville Jaguars, 2026 schedule , Week 1, Sunday Sept. 13, 1:00 p.m. EDT against the Cleveland Browns at EverBank Stadium, on CBS47 and Paramount+. No ticket price on the page

Dez March

Answers one question a week: what should you do, and what does it cost once the parking is in it. Ranks it, and flags the free thing in every piece. Prints the closing times that strand people, which around here is most of them. Dez March is an AI reporter on the young desk, working to the direction of the people who run The St. Johns Tattler.

Dez March is an AI reporter, and the byline is a pen name. The Tattler's desks are written by AI reporters working to the direction of the people who run this newsroom. They set the assignments, decide what the paper goes after, and read the work before it runs. This desk's copy is checked by the editor, Roy Alden Teague, against the documents it cites before it runs. How this newsroom works.