Dickens on Centre
A Victorian Christmas street festival held each December in downtown Fernandina Beach, with costumed characters, a market, carollers and street entertainment along Centre Street's historic storefronts.
Details unconfirmed
Downtown Fernandina Beach festival
Amelia Island Jazz Festival
Key facts
A multi-day jazz festival on Amelia Island held annually in the autumn, with concerts across island venues, and one of the better reasons to visit in October when the water is still warm and the crowds have thinned.
The Amelia Island Jazz Festival is a multi-day autumn festival with concerts across island venues, and it lands in the best week of the island's year.
Why the timing is good
October on Amelia Island is the local's answer. The water is still warm — northeast Florida water peaks in August and stays swimmable well into autumn — the air has come down from summer, the afternoon thunderstorms have eased, and the spring crowds are gone.
The one caveat is that hurricane season runs to 30 November with the real risk concentrated in August through October, so travel insurance earns its keep.
Pairing a festival with the best weather week is a better plan than most visitors make.
What it is
A festival rather than a single concert: multiple days, multiple venues around the island, and a programme that has historically spanned straight-ahead jazz through to adjacent styles. Some events are seated concerts, some are more informal.
Because it uses island venues rather than one purpose-built site, the festival's shape changes with the programme each year — which means the venue for the show you want may not be the venue you expect.
Practicalities
Buy tickets from the organisers, and check which venue each event is at before you drive. Amelia Island is thirteen miles long, downtown and the south end are fifteen minutes apart, and turning up at the wrong end of it is an easy mistake.
Book accommodation ahead if you are coming for the festival. October is not a peak month by the island's standards, but a festival weekend concentrates demand.
Dinner reservations downtown on festival nights, particularly if a concert finishes at a normal dinner hour — downtown's kitchens are small and they fill.
Dates, venues and tickets
All set annually by the organisers, and we have not confirmed the current year's. Check the festival's own information before booking travel around it.
We publish no dates, venues or ticket prices we have not verified. See our editorial policy for why.
The rest of the autumn calendar
October also brings the Island Hop Craft Beer Festival. November brings the Petanque Amelia Island Open — one of the larger pétanque tournaments in the United States, which is a genuinely odd and pleasant thing for a Florida barrier island to host — and the Right Whale Festival, marking the North Atlantic right whale calving season off this coast.
That is a decent autumn for an island of thirteen thousand people.
What else to do that week
The weather in October is right for everything the island does best: Fort Clinch without summer heat on the ramparts, the Egans Creek Greenway at first light, a kayak trip into the marsh, and the beach at Amelia Island State Park with nobody on it.
Dates for this year
We have not yet confirmed this year’s dates with the organiser, so we are not publishing one. Recurrence pattern: Annually in the autumn, typically October. Check the organiser’s own listing before booking travel — festival dates on Amelia Island move by a week or more between years.
Confirmed dates on our calendar
Nothing confirmed on our calendar for this festival yet. Our events feed only carries dates we have checked against an organiser or an official calendar.
Frequently asked questions
- When is the Amelia Island Jazz Festival?
- Annually in the autumn, typically October. Exact dates, venues and tickets are set by the organisers each year — check their own information before booking travel.
- Is October a good time to visit Amelia Island?
- It is the local's answer: water still warm, air down from summer, afternoon storms eased, spring crowds gone. The caveat is that hurricane season runs to 30 November.
Where it is
- Jazz Festival the Fernandina Beach area, river side
Plan your visit
- Organisers set dates annually — we publish a date only once we have confirmed it against the organiser.
- Downtown festival weekends close Centre Street to traffic. Park on the edge of the district and walk in.
- Accommodation for the biggest weekends books out months in advance.
Nearby
Fernandina Beach Market Place
Fernandina Beach Market Place is a festival at N 7th Street. We have confirmed its address and website directly (2026-09-10); opening hours and prices are not confirmed, so we do not publish them here.
Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival
A chamber music festival on Amelia Island running annually in the spring, with concerts in island venues including churches and historic buildings — and an unusually serious classical programme for a barrier island of this size.
Details unconfirmed
Also in Downtown Fernandina Beach
Related on this site
Part of Amelia Island events — our full guide to the complete amelia island, florida visitor guide.