Music by the Sea

This summer, Wednesday and Thursday evenings will offer visitors and residents an opportunity to enjoy free, live concerts with their choice of a great historic or seaside setting in the Nation’s oldest city or nearby St. Augustine Beach.

For music lovers who want to return to those special summer evenings of long ago when the whole town turned out to enjoy a concert, there’s nothing better than Thursday night’s Concerts in the Plaza. Held in St. Augustine’s Plaza de la Constitucion, the entertainers perform from the plaza’s historic gazebo while listeners gather around on blankets and lawn chairs. The fact that the plaza has been used daily since 1596 as a meeting place for the residents of St. Augustine adds to the historic atmosphere. The free concerts take place from 7 until 9 p.m.

To enjoy live music with the gentle hiss of the surf in the background, there’s no better place to be than at the St. Augustine Beach Pier and Pavilion on Wednesday evenings for Music By The Sea. A wide variety of musical performers are scheduled to entertain throughout the summer and their talents combined with a walk on the pier or just a lingering look at the blue Atlantic at dusk create a special evening for the entire family. Plus, each free concert is paired with the culinary creations of a different local restaurant offered for $10 or less per meal. Dinner starts at 6 p.m. and the music drifts among the dunes from 7 until 9 p.m.

2009 MUSIC BY THE SEA CONCERTS (with featured restaurant)
Wednesday evenings — Dinner begins at 6 p.m.; Music 7-9 p.m., St. Augustine Beach Pier Pavilion

May 20: Jimmy Parrish & The Ocean Waves Band (FA Café); May 27: Navy Jazz Ensemble (Amici’s); June 3: Falling Bones (South Beach Grill); June 10: Crabgrass (Panama Hatties); June 17: Chaos Theory (Napoli’s Pizza); June 24: Those Guys (Barnacle Bill’s); July 1: Restless Kind (Pizza Garden); July 8: Midlife Crisis (Sea Oats Caffe); July 15: Bush Doctors ((Purple Olive); July 22: Mojo Highway (Mango Mangos); July 29: Grapes of Roth (LaStrada); Aug. 5: Funk Shui (Sea Oats Caffe); Aug. 12: Triple Rock Blues Band (Napoli’s Pizza); Aug. 19: Joe Wytiaz & Friends (Purple Olive); Aug. 26: Toots Lorraine (Zaharia’s); Sept. 2: Roland Fleming Connection (Gypsy Cab); Sept. 9: Falling Bones (Pizza Garden); Sept. 16: AmyAlysse (LaStrada): Sept. 23: Hurricane Surfers (Zhanra’s); Sept. 30: First Coast Jazz Orchestra (Sunset Grille).

2009 CONCERTS IN THE PLAZA

Thursday evenings, 7-9 p.m., Plaza de La Constitucion, St. Augustine
May 25 Memorial Day: E.T.’s Swings the Thing and The Bill Doyle Quartette (special 1-5 p.m.); May 28: Mid-Life Crisis; June 4: The Falling Bones; June 11: Bob & Joline’s Friends of Mine Band; June 18: The Mike Hart Band; June 25: Moderate Chop Ensemble; July 2: The Driftwoods; July 9: Ancient City Slickers; July 16: The Company; July 23: Bob Peck & Friends; July 30: Big Pineapple; Aug. 6: The Restless Kind; Aug. 13: Elizabeth and the Grapes of Roth; Aug. 20: Triple Rock Blues Band; Aug. 27: Skin & Bonz & The Big Hungry Boys; Sept. 3: Gatorbone; Sept. 7: Labor Day The Boston Connection & Gil Surrett and a St. Augustine Jazz Society Jam Session (special 1-5 p.m.)

The Concerts in the Plaza and the Music by the Sea concert series are funded in part with a grant from the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council. For more information on events and vacation opportunities in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & the Beaches go to the Visitors and Convention Bureau website www.Getaway4Florida.com or call 1.800.652.2489.