Edgewood Avenue Is Running on Two Clocks This Fall, and Hill-O-Ween Is the Night They Overlap

"We also look forward to working tirelessly to earn this opportunity and to live up to the legacy of the historical Edgewood Bakery," Alonza Anderson said in June. He spoke at a ceremony in the Murray Hill Presbyterian Church parking lot, a short walk from the building his family's company will move into. The Edgewood Bakery at 1012 Edgewood Ave. S. opened in 1947 and closed in 2016. The Jacksonville Daily Record reported that the bakery returning there plans to open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Most of the other changes on the strip this year point toward the evening. Two pubs opened, a restaurant closed, and a Mediterranean cafe has a kitchen build-out on the city's permit list. Taken one address at a time, the 2026 changes show Murray Hill's main street sorting itself into a daytime schedule and a nighttime one. On Saturday, Oct. 24, about 5,000 people will be on Edgewood Avenue for both at once.

The newest leases on Edgewood run late

The Forge Restaurant & Bar opened at 1198 Edgewood Ave. S. with a soft launch on June 12. Founders Mathew Bush and Kevin Parrish took over a space that had been home to Mustang's Whiskey Bar & Grill, The Stout Snug and Magnolia's Pub. That's three earlier bar concepts at one address, and the Jacksonville Daily Record's opening story treated The Forge as an attempt to give that corner some staying power. In June the paper listed planned hours of 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Those were launch-period projections, so check the current schedule before planning a late visit.

At the other end of the strip, O'Mara Irish Pub opened at 939 Edgewood Ave. S. this summer. It seats about 100 and has a live-music stage. According to Whatnow, in early June, the owners said they hoped to open by the end of that month.

A pub with a stage and a bar-and-grill with projected 2 a.m. hours are the two newest operating additions on Edgewood. Both are built for after work, not lunch.

Three addresses still in between

Between those two pubs, three addresses are in transition. Here is where each one stood as of early October.

• 947 Edgewood Ave. S. Hamburger Mary's closed here in July after about 18 months. The Florida Times-Union reported a For Lease sign on the building. Jacksonville Today confirmed the closure on July 22. We haven't found a report of a new tenant for the space.
• 1152 Edgewood Ave. S. Petra Cafe & Kitchen is planned here. It will serve Mediterranean grill dishes and specialty coffee, with seating indoors and in an outdoor garden. The Daily Record's Sept. 21 permit roundup lists a $45,000 kitchen build-out at the address by contractor AEC Integrated LLC. No opening date has been published, and we haven't seen any report that Petra has opened.
• 1012 Edgewood Ave. S. This is the former Edgewood Bakery, which Community First Credit Union is turning into a branch. Of the three, it's the one with the most history behind it.

The bakery comes back on a daytime schedule

The building's story goes back a long way. Gary and Sandy Polletta bought the Edgewood Bakery in 1992, when it was already 45 years old. They sold the business in 2014, and the new owners closed it in 2016. Community First bought the property in October 2024 for $1.65 million. On June 24 it announced that family-owned Arble Baking Co. would run a food feature inside the new branch.

Community First President and CEO Sam Inman said the bakery came out of conversations with Murray Hill residents about how they wanted the property redeveloped:

"From the beginning, we heard how important it was to the community to bring back a warm, inviting food experience to this beloved neighborhood landmark."

Arble also has deep roots in Jacksonville. Willis Anderson served with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue and was known as "The Cookie Man." He sold baked goods to firefighters, paramedics and families near his station, and sometimes delivered cookies in a JFRD ambulance. Veronica Anderson started taking orders after sharing her homemade cookies with coworkers at BellSouth in 1975. The family opened its shop at 6765 Dunn Ave. in North Jacksonville in 2023. The company is named for the street where the Andersons raised their family and sold those cookies.

The Edgewood kitchen will sell baked goods, sandwiches and desserts, with seating in an outdoor plaza. The city has been reviewing a $200,000 permit for the food space, filed under Jacksonville-based Auld & White Constructors. The branch will also have a community room for neighborhood meetings and gatherings. The parking lot is being redesigned to add a drive-through.

Community First's June announcement said the branch was expected to open in late 2026 at the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Post Street. We haven't found a revised date or construction update since then, so treat that as a target. The two June sources also describe the bakery's schedule differently. The Daily Record reported plans for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and the credit union's release says the bakery will be open daily. Expect final hours to be set closer to opening.

Once it opens, the 1012 site will fill the part of the day the new pubs leave open. Under the hours the Daily Record reported, it will sit next to a bank lobby and a drive-through and close at 5 p.m., around when happy hour starts at the other end of the strip.

October 24 is when both schedules share the street

Murray Hill-O-Ween is Saturday, Oct. 24. The Murray Hill Preservation Association runs it in partnership with Community First Credit Union. The event has a block party with music, local food trucks, a pumpkin patch and kids' activities, plus a Halloween parade down Edgewood Avenue at dusk with floats, bands and costumed characters. The association says the event draws more than 5,000 people from across North Florida each year.

Community First used last year's Hill-O-Ween to show its plans for the bakery building, unveiling renderings during the Oct. 25, 2025 block party and parade. This year it's the presenting partner, with its branch still under construction a few blocks from the parade route.

The association's parade rules set the timeline for the evening.

1. 4 p.m. Parade staging begins.
2. 6 p.m. Deadline for parade participants to check in.
3. 6:30 p.m. Lineup starts.
4. 7:30 p.m. The parade steps off down Edgewood Avenue.
5. After Plymouth Street. Participants may disperse.

The published materials don't list a street-by-street route beyond Edgewood Avenue and the Plymouth Street dispersal point. If you're meeting friends, pick a spot on Edgewood itself. The Hill-O-Ween page also links the 2026 sponsorship packet for local businesses that want to take part.

The 7:30 p.m. start is the key time. By then the strip's daytime businesses have closed for the day and The Forge and O'Mara are in their evening hours. The vacant storefront at 947 and the Petra site at 1152 will be along the parade route too. Of the year's changes, only the bakery building isn't serving yet, and its owner is the event's presenting partner.

Smaller moves this month

The smaller changes follow the same address-by-address turnover. Steele Hair Gallery announced a move to 1112 S. Edgewood Avenue, with an Oct. 1 opening date and a grand-opening party set for Saturday, Oct. 3. Shear Perfection Hair Salon is building out a 1,563-square-foot suite at 1195 Edgewood Ave. S., No. 20, which shows up as a $40,000 tenant build-out in the Sept. 21 permit list.

Off the main strip, the preservation association's October calendar lists a weekly Wednesday Local Food–Community–Regeneration gathering from 5 to 8 p.m. at Fishweir Brewing Co., 3438 Mayflower St., including Oct. 7. The same calendar lists Wednesday trivia at The Fridge at 7 p.m.

If you own on or near Edgewood, how 947 and 1152 get filled will shape your block as much as any sales comp. Market Makers Group follows corridor changes like these address by address. If you're curious what this Edgewood Avenue turnover means for your home's value, ask us for a free home valuation and we'll walk you through the numbers.