Bicentennial art exhibit includes performance, paintings and more
Jacksonville celebrates its Bicentennial this Saturday. The energy has been building for an epic party with events popping up all over town. The Jacksonville Artist’s Guild and the Art Center Cooperative, Inc. presents their Bicentennial Art Exhibition: Jacksonville Past and Present at the Downtown Library and James Weldon Johnson Park. Attendees will see paintings and creations from artists who incorporated Jacksonville’s history into their projects. They will also have the opportunity to have history lessons from members of “The Imposters”, a collective of performing artists who portray characters integral to Jacksonville’s history.
A look back: The toll Jacksonville’s toll system had on the city’s history
If you live in Jacksonville long enough, you’re sure to complain about the traffic. It’s basically a River City right of passage. But those who lived and drove in the area from the 1950s to the 1980s remember a different source of traffic complaints: Tolls.
Jacksonville’s historic role in the founding of Southern rock
Their names are world-famous: Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, 38 Special, Molly Hatchet. Not as well known, however, is that those bands are among several who together pioneered a new kind of music nearly 60 years ago in Jacksonville. As the city celebrates its bicentennial, Southern rock endures and still thrives today.
Meet one of the first Black students to attend Ribault High School in Jacksonville
Many are surprised today to learn that Ribault High School in Northwest Jacksonville was a white-only school in the 1960s. Patricia Pearson, whose father was iconic civil rights leader Rutledge Pearson, helped change that.
Remembering Capt. Chuck Hiett: The Blue Angels’ first Marine Corps pilot
Every year, millions of people take in the world-famous Blue Angels spectacle. The air shows have become a thrilling American pastime. But when Jacksonville resident Lynne Kelly sees the Blue Angels, she sees her beloved grandfather.
Legendary meteorologist describes Jacksonville during his childhood in the 1940s
As we mark the 200th anniversary of Jacksonville, we turn to a longtime resident to take us back in time to the Jacksonville he remembers. George Winterling moved to our area in 1941. He was just a boy; his father moved the family from New Jersey when Winterling was about 10 years old.