A spotlight shined on the nation’s oldest city during its 450th commemorative anniversary celebration last week, and despite the inclement weather, multitudes of people turned out to mark the historic occasion.
The celebration took place over several days from Sept. 4–8 at various locations throughout historic St. Augustine.
A highlight of the festivities was a free three-day music and street festival with live entertainment on five stages featuring local and national headliners such as veteran R&B singer, Aaron Neville, rhythm & blues gospel singer, Mavis Staples, Justin Townes Earle, JJ Grey and Mofro and Emmylou Harris with Rodney Crowell.
Saturday night closed out with a bang with a fireworks show over the Matanzas River.
The official anniversary was marked Sept. 8 with a countdown clock ceremony at the Visitor Information Center, a reenactment of Pedro Menéndez’ landing in St. Augustine in 1565 and a procession to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine followed by a commemorative mass.
