On most of the calendar between now and Christmas, Riverside has one thing going at a time. The Cummer Museum keeps its regular gallery hours, and Riverside Arts Market sets up under the Fuller Warren Bridge for its Saturday market. Then a few dates come along where both, and sometimes a third event, run within hours of each other on Riverside Avenue.
Oct. 24, Nov. 28, Dec. 5 and Sunday, Dec. 20 are the stacked dates, and the season is built around them. Riverside Avondale Preservation produces Riverside Arts Market and also organizes Luminaria, so one neighborhood group bookends the season, with the Cummer's exhibitions in between.
Thursday, Oct. 22: the Cummer opens a show about fakes
The season opens with a new show at the Cummer. Tiffany or Ti-phony? A Story of Desire opens at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens with 45 lamps from The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in Queens, New York. Each lamp poses one question to the viewer: genuine Tiffany or a convincing imitation? The museum describes new research, side-by-side comparisons and interactive elements meant to teach visitors how to spot the difference.
The show's images give a sense of the challenge. Authentic and forged Wisteria lamps, from an original design by Clara W. Driscoll for Tiffany Studios, appear next to each other, along with a pair of Grape lamps and a Peacock Library Lamp dated 1902 to 1910.
Thursday happens to be the right day to go. The Cummer stays open until 8 p.m. on Thursdays, compared with 4 p.m. on every other open day, so an after-work visit is possible. The exhibition is included with general admission, which is $20 for adults and $18 for seniors, military, educators and students ages 6 to 17. Children 5 and under and members get in free. It runs through Jan. 10, 2027.
The Cummer already has a second show up, The Cummer Museum at 65: New Acquisitions, which opened Oct. 2 and runs through April 18, 2027. One ticket covers both.
Saturday, Oct. 24: the first stacked day
Two days after Tiffany opens, the museum's opening weekend falls on a Riverside Arts Market Saturday. That makes it the first date of the season with something going from morning to night:
- 10 a.m. Riverside Arts Market opens at 715 Riverside Ave. It's free, runs rain or shine and closes at 3 p.m.
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Cummer holds opening weekend activities for the Tiffany show. They continue Sunday, Oct. 25, from noon to 4 p.m.
- 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m. RAM's River Stage features The Flashbacks, then Souvineer, then Donna Frost.
- 5:30 p.m. Doors open for the Cummer's Fall Garden Concert with The Billie Monarch Band in the historic gardens. The music runs 6:30 to 8:30, and tickets are $45.
After Oct. 24, the two venues go back to separate schedules for about a month. RAM gives each Saturday a theme, and the Cummer starts opening its next shows.
November Saturdays, theme by theme
Through November, the market's Saturday themes and the Cummer's openings alternate week to week. The market keeps its usual 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours and free admission, and River Stage sets begin at 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m.
| Date | At Riverside Arts Market | At the Cummer |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Arf Barket | Regular hours |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | UNF Jazz Ensemble II, Sweet William, IKnowIt Trivia | Regular hours |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Seward Johnson: Beyond the Frame opens in the gardens | |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Vision Is Priceless with Strides For Sight | Seward Johnson's first weekend |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | A State of Expression opens | |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | National Native American Heritage Month, with Ray of Sunshine Theatre, My Monster Heart and Larry Yazzie | A State of Expression's first weekend |
Of the two November openings, Seward Johnson: Beyond the Frame is the one people will see from outside, since it's installed in the museum's outdoor gardens. It stays up through June 20, 2027. A State of Expression | A Look into The Art of Florida opens a week later and runs through May 30, 2027. General admission covers both. By late November, one Cummer ticket gets you into four exhibitions.
Thanksgiving weekend adds a Friday night
The calendar changes on Friday, Nov. 27. That evening RAM opens its 2nd Annual Holiday Market, with 30 local artists, makers and artisans selling original holiday goods. It's open Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Dec. 27. For the five weeks before Christmas, a market that has run only on Saturdays will also be open Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
Saturday, Nov. 28 is RAM's Small Business Saturday. The River Stage has an Acrofit Yoga Demo at 10:30 a.m., Austin Vernon at noon and Tim & Jerry at 1:30 p.m. That same evening, the City of Jacksonville's Holiday River Fest takes place at Riverfront Plaza, 2 W. Independent Dr., downtown. The schedule:
- 5 p.m. Festivities begin
- 6:25 p.m. City tree lighting
- 6:30 p.m. Jacksonville Light Boat Parade on the St. Johns
- 8:15 p.m. Parade winners announced
- About 8:30 p.m. Fireworks
The boat parade is a downtown event, and the city directs spectators to the Riverwalks. Since the market closes at 3 and the parade starts at 6:30, both fit in one Saturday.
A new dinner option on St. Johns Avenue, expected the same week
Thanksgiving is also when the neighborhood's next restaurant is expected to open. As the Jax Daily Record reported on Sept. 25, Nathan Stuart and Margo Klar plan to open Boathouse Avondale around Thanksgiving at 3951 St. Johns Ave. The couple also runs The Boathouse in Ponte Vedra Beach. The building is the former Ale Pie House space, about a half-mile from the center of Avondale's shopping district.
The Daily Record reported that the building was a grocery store about 100 years ago and was renovated to the neighborhood's preservation standards. The restaurant will have 135 seats indoors and under covered outdoor space, plus 4,300 square feet of air-conditioned space. The kitchen is upstairs and the sushi bar is downstairs, so the menu will feature fewer hot dishes than other Boathouse locations. It will also offer locally sourced fish, house-made soy sauce, cocktails and premium sake. Sang Won Kim, the group's director of sushi and executive sushi chef, will lead the sushi program.
"We're really going to push hard to make it the best sushi in Jacksonville," Stuart told the Daily Record.
The owners expect to start with dinner only, Wednesday through Sunday. "Around Thanksgiving" is an estimate, not a confirmed opening date, so check before planning an evening around it. If it does open on schedule, it would be another Friday-night stop alongside the Holiday Market.
Dec. 5: three markets on one Saturday
The first Saturday in December has the most going on of any day this season. It starts on Thursday, Dec. 3, when the Cummer holds Champagne & Shopping in its Hixon Auditorium from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Browsing and shopping are free.
Then on Saturday, Dec. 5, these overlap:
- Riverside Arts Market, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., free
- RAM's Holiday Market, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- The Cummer's Holiday Market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the museum's front lawn, free
Dec. 5 is also the Cummer's Free First Saturday, so museum admission is free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. That includes the Tiffany lamps, the new acquisitions, the Seward Johnson garden installation and A State of Expression. For a household of two adults and two teenagers, that's $76 in regular admission waived, on a day when two markets are running on the same road.
Dec. 20: the season ends by candlelight
The last stacked day is a Sunday. Riverside Avondale Preservation's 42nd Annual Luminaria takes place Sunday, Dec. 20, when candles light the historic Riverside Avondale district for one evening. RAP says it will announce details and luminary kit purchase information closer to the date.
The Cummer hosts its own Luminaria program that evening on the front lawn from 5 to 7 p.m., with live music, seasonal refreshments, artmaking and shopping. Admission is free.
RAM's Holiday Market is open that Sunday too, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. So the afternoon starts at the makers' tables under the Fuller Warren Bridge and the evening moves to the Cummer's lawn and the candlelit streets around it. The market has one more Friday-to-Sunday run, ending Dec. 27, and Tiffany or Ti-phony? stays open until Jan. 10.
If Dec. 5 turns into a free Tiffany morning and a lap of the holiday markets, or Dec. 20 ends on a candlelit walk through the historic streets, Jennifer Sexton and Wes Mock are happy to share what they know about these blocks and the homes along them. Contact Us any time this season.
