Join the Spanish Colonial Grand Muster

Captain Conrad Matt reported to the Historic City News entertainment desk that the annual Spanish Colonial Grand Muster would be re-enacted by members of the St Augustine Garrison on March 23rd and 24th.

Friday night entertainment will include special torchlight tours of the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument on March 23rd, from 7:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. — simulating preparations for the night attack on Fort Mose that occurred on June 25th-26th 1740.

Small group tours will leave every 15 minutes. The supplies of tickets for this rare event are very limited. They will only be available on a first come first serve basis from the Castillo Fee Booth.

Saturday morning, beginning at 10:00 a.m., Spanish soldados will demonstrate the military arts of the period in the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and there will be demonstrations and interpretations of 18th-century daily life in the city during a Colonial Market being held at the Spanish Quarter Museum.

Historic City News readers are invited to follow the governor, soldiers, and townsfolk during the Grand Muster parade and celebration on Saturday March 24th at 8:00 p.m. beginning at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.

Sentries will be posted at the city gates, and cannons will fire; signifying the start of the Grand Muster Parade. Participants will march down St George Street to the Plaza de la Constitution for the Blessing of the Flag at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. The Grand Muster parade will conclude at the Governor’s Palace with a salute of musket-fire in honor of the Governor.

The Grand Muster commemorates the events leading up to the 1740 invasion of Spanish Florida by the British colonies to the north and is hosted by the St Augustine Garrison, an 18th Century Company of Historic Florida Militia, Inc. and supported in part by The St. Johns County Tourist Development Council. The St. Augustine Garrison thanks The Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, the City of St. Augustine, and The St. Johns County School Board, Broudy’s Liquors, Ann O’Malley’s, The Spanish Bakery and all our generous donors for their continued support of the Grand Muster.

Photo credits: © 2012 Historic City News archive photograph