School's Out! A Summer Guide for High Schoolers
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School’s out for St. Augustine High School, Pedro Menendez High School, and St. Joseph's Academy, so students are gearing up for an action-packed summer. What's there for a high school-aged teen to do in St. Augustine? Here are a few events you should check out during your summer break.
Local teenager, Camille, visits South St. Augustine's Shantytown Village, on a summer break.
June
June 2 / The Last Day of School for St. John's County Celebrate the start of summer by enjoying a bucket of burgers and some milkshakes at downtown's Burger Buckets. Follow up your feast with a round of mini-golf at Bayfront Mini-Golf.
June 3 / Bare Naked Ladies @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre / 6:30 p.m. I would argue that Bare Naked Ladies is before your time, but their influence truly has spanned the decades. Don’t miss their show at the amphitheater, where they're sure to play summer favorites like “One Week.”
June 4 / Fort Mose Militia Muster & Training @ Ft. Mose State Park / 9 a.m.–11:30 a.m. Hang out at Fort Mose State Park on Saturday morning for a fun day with The Fort Mose Militia as the 18th century comes back to life with firing drills and new members learning to use historic weapons. You can witness the weapons demonstrations, which include musket firings.
June 11 / Dark of the Moon Tour @ St. Augustine Lighthouse / 8:30 p.m. Explore the Lighthouse history, and the ghost tales, armed with only a glowstick. You can climb to the top while the guide shares the history of the Lighthouse and grounds as well as true tales of ghostly encounters.
June 25 / Battle of Bloody Mose @ Ft. Mose State Park / 10 a.m.–2 p.m. You will see firsthand how the skirmish unfolded and how the inhabitants at Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort Mose) forced the British to retreat from Spanish Florida. Re-enactments of the battle itself will take place at 11 a.m. and at 1 p.m. Other activities include musket demonstrations and colonial Florida craft-making stations, as well as a variety of food and craft vendors.
Barenaked Ladies perform at The Amp on June 3 as part of the 6th edition of their "Last Summer on Earth" tour, which was founded in 2012 to mark the year that the Mayan calendar predicted would be our last.
July
July 4 / Fourth of July Fireworks @ Castillo de San Marcos / 9:30 p.m. "Fireworks Over the Matanzas" is one of the biggest and best fireworks displays on the East Coast, featuring 5,000 individual shells exploding as high as 2,000 feet and as low as 100 feet. The 20-minute fireworks show is choreographed to music over an extensive sound system that carries over the entire bayfront.
July 9 / Drum Runner Series Barrel Racing @ St. Johns County Fairgrounds / 2 p.m. Experience horses like you've never experienced them before. The Drum Runner Series hosts barrel, pole, and other timed speed horse events, and is free for hose-loving spectators.
July 16 / Tolomato and Huguenot Cemetery Tours @ Tolomato Cemetery and Huguenot Cemetery / 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Visit the elders who are no longer with us at the Tolomato Cemetery which is the final resting place for people from a wide variety of cultures – Spanish, Cuban, Greek, Minorcan, African, Irish, and Haitian, just to name a few. It was closed to burials in 1884. The first burial ground in St. Augustine dedicated to Anglo-American civilians, the Huguenot Cemetery was a Protestant burial ground from 1821 to 1884. (And yes, there may be ghosts.)
July 23 - 24 / Aladdin Jr. @ Lewis Auditorium / 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. The Apex Theatre will stage its first production of the North Florida chapter of The Penguin Project. A one-act, 11-scene theater musical adapted from the 1992 Walt Disney Animation Studios, Aladdin Jr. is based on the folk tale Aladdin. In the 60- to 80-minute musical, Aladdin and his three friends, Babkak, Omar, and Kassim, are down on their luck until Aladdin discovers a magic lamp and the Genie who has the power to grant three wishes.
July 27 / Improv Night @ Colonial Oak Music Park / 7:30 p.m. Diving headfirst into any challenge the audience throws at them in this interactive all-ages comedy experience, a First Coast Comedy show is way more fun than being home watching re-runs of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" If you'd rather do improv than watch it, join The Adventure Project's improv camp hosted by Limelight Theatre.
The Adventure Project's Improv Camp at Limelight Theatre is a favorite summer activity for teenagers in St. Augustine.
August
August 4 / Slightly Stoopid Concert @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre / 5 p .m. Take one last opportunity to rock out this summer at the Slightly Stoopid show also featuring Pepper, Common Kings, and Fortunate Youth. The reggae music will lull you into thinking that summer isn't about to end in a few days.
August 9 / Last Day of Summer! / Cue the weeping Emoji faces (the one with the tears really flowing). School returns tomorrow. But admit it, you're kind of excited for the first day.
Slightly Stoopid brings the reggae beats to The Amp just days before school starts in August.
So many options for summer...
- Adventure Landing: Hit the go kart track or rack up tickets in the arcade with friends.
- St. Augustine Bike Rentals: As long as you have a valid driver's license, you can rent a scooter and ride around town for just $15 an hour.
- Ripley's Ghost Train: Stay up late on Saturday night and enjoy some scares with friends on this haunting ghost tour of St. Augustine.
- Sarbez: Before 10 p.m. you teens can eat gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches while playing old school arcade games.
- St. Augustine Surf School and Surf Station Surf School: Both schools offer summer surf camps for teenagers.
- Medieval Torture Museum: "Enjoy" a variety of torturous scenes while experiencing the perspective of both the tormentor and the tormented.
- Anastasia Island's Arcade Museum: On Saturdays you can have at 30 machines -- and the jukebox -- are all free play, so no coins needed.
Summertime fun means riding a scooter around historic downtown thanks to St. Augustine Bike Rentals.
For more activities this summer, check out our Calendar of Events and our Things To Do.
Amy Angelilli updated this article with 2022 information.
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Updated: Friday, April 8, 2022
As Content Editor for VisitStAugustine.com, Alex writes and edits everything from articles to business profiles to events. She likes manatees, orange juice, and getting into a hot car on a scorchingly hot Florida summer day after being in AC for hours.
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