School's Out! A Summer Guide for Teens
Check out these hot summer events for high school students to enjoy.
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 teenagers can check out during summer break.
Local teenager, Camille, visits South St. Augustine's Shantytown Village, on summer break.
May
May 23 - 25 / Blue Crab Festival @ the Riverfront in Palatka / 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. Friday, noon to 10:00 p.m. Saturday, noon to 9:00 p.m. Sunday.
Live music, arts and crafts vendors, carnival rides, water slides, and all the crabs (and other seafood) you can eat. Can you say, "Hello summertime?" as it has officially arrived with this festival.
Check out the Monkey Maze at Memorial Day Weekend's Blue Crab Festival on the St. Johns River.
June
June 7 / Fort Mose Militia Muster & Training @ Ft. Mose State Park / 9:30 -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.
The militia muster is a great way to check out how historic weapons were used.
Wednesdays - Sundays / 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.
Things get spooky at the St. Augustine Lighthouse after dark.
June 21 / The Aquabats at the Backyard Stage @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre / 6:30 p.m.
A crime-fighting squad delivering a live show in superhero outfits, The Aquabats aren't your grandma's punk rock band (even though they've been around a while)!
The Aquabats visit the St. Augustine Amphitheatre this summer.
June 24 / Night Market @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre / 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. A block party that has food, drinks, shopping, and fun is up any teenager's alley since it includes kick-a** food trucks and some fab live bands.
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.
Everyone loves a great fireworks show in the summertime!
July 19 / Tolomato and Huguenot Cemetery Tours @ Tolomato Cemetery and Huguenot Cemetery / 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 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.)
Don't be surprised if you see ghosts like these on your cemetery tour.
July 14 - 18 / Drama + Comedy Camps for Teens @ Third Space Improv / 10:00 - 5:00 p.m.
If you'd rather do improv than watch re-runs of Whose Line is it Anyway?, join Third Space Improv's summer camp. At the end, you'll put up your own improv showcase for friends and family. If that isn't enough improv for you, Third Space hosts shows rated "E" for everyone on Saturday nights this summer. (And yes, there's a scripted camp too!)
Take to the stage this summer - with, or without, a script!
August
August 8 / Hairspray @ Limelight Theatre / 7:30 p.m.
Hairspray's stage version is based on the 1988 iconic John Waters film where teen Tracy Turnblad dreams of dancing on the Corny Collins Show in 1962. The outfits are fabulous and so is the music!
August 10 / 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.
So many options for summer...
- Adventure Landing: Hit the go kart track or rack up tickets in the arcade with friends.
- Ghosts & Gravestones: Stay up late on Saturday night and enjoy some scares with friends.
- Sarbez: Before 10:00 p.m. 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 tiny cars around a track at Adventure Landing.
For more activities this summer, check out our Calendar of Events and our Things To Do.
Amy Angelilli updated this article with 2025 information.
Alex Pooler
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.
