Spend the holiday season with friends and family exploring all that St. Augustine has to offer! St. Johns County residents can enjoy the Old Town Trolley tour for FREE when accompanied by a full fare adult paid guest with Hometown Pass.
The Annual Great Chowder Debate features over 30 local St. Augustine restaurants competing for “Best Chowder” bragging rights in five different chowder categories: Minorcan Conch Chowder, Minorcan Clam Chowder, New England Clam Chowder, Seafood Chowder, and Non-Seafood Chowder. This event is hosted by The Conch House Marina Resort, and proceeds will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Johns County. Tickets for tastes of chowder will be sold for $1 each. Patrons are welcomed to vote on their favorite chowders to decide which wins the “People’s Choice” award. Beverages including beer, soda, tea, and water will also be available for purchase during this event.
Castillo de San Marcos – Free admission for Veterans Day
The Castillo de San Marcos offers free admission on Saturday, November 11, 2017, in honor of Veterans Day. The Castillo is open from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There will be informal activities commemorating Veterans Day from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Old Town Trolley Tours – Veterans Day
All Veterans ride free aboard Old Town Trolley and receive free admission to the Old Jail, Oldest Store Museum Experience, Potter’s Wax Museum and the St. Augustine History Museum. Patriot Service Dogs will be visiting the property of the Old Jail. Each Veterans Day, Historic Tours of America donates $1 from each trolley ticket sold from all seven of their cities to Patriot Service Dogs. The money donated to Patriot Service Dogs allows us to sponsor dogs to go to a Veteran in need.
4:00 PM
Lighting Ceremony for Nights of Lights
The City of St. Augustine kicks off its 2017-2018 Nights of Lights season with a lighting ceremony. The Nights of Lights Lighting Ceremony, also known as Light Up! Night, takes place on Saturday, November 18, 2017. Locals and vacationers from all over join together to watch the City of St. Augustine flip the switch on three million white lights decorating the Plaza and buildings all over historic downtown. Leading up to the occasion is a free concert and a countdown, and the ceremony is followed by more live music. This has been a popular annual tradition in St. Augustine for over 20 years and is all the more festive now that the Nights of Lights has garnered worldwide attention as a top destination to see holiday lights. This award-winning holiday lights display runs from November 18, 2017, to January 31, 2018, in historic St. Augustine. During Nights of Lights, businesses downtown stay open later, letting you dine in view of the lights and shop amongst the lit buildings. The Old Town Trolley Tours offers special seasonal tours that take you through the best areas of Nights of Lights.
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6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Old Town Trolley’s Famous Nights of Lights Tour
An excellent way to see St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights. This holiday spectacle of traditional white lights (some three million of them) has its roots, like everything in St. Augustine, in history. For the nearly 250 years that St. Augustine served as the capital of Spanish Florida, residents would place a lighted candle in their windows to mark the holiday season. Now the lights are electric, but they remain white, and they are dazzling to see as they decorate the wonderful old buildings, historic homes and bayfront vistas in the nation’s oldest city. National Geographic magazine included St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights in its recent list of the ten best places in the world to see holiday lighting displays. The 24th Annual Nights of Lights begins on the evening of Saturday, November 18, 2017, when the Mayor turns on the lights in the annual Lighting Ceremony. On the following evening (Sunday, November 19), the Old Town Trolley’s Famous Nights of Lights Tour will begin touring visitors around the historic district to see the best of the Nights of Lights displays. The trolley tours depart from 6 to 9 p.m. continuously every night of the holiday season through January 31, 2018. No reservations are required.
