Ponte Vedra Beach Has No Town Square, So Its Holidays Gather Under the Palm Valley Bridge
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
On a cold Saturday night in December 2024, an estimated 300 people stood under the east side of the Palm Valley Bridge. Kids picked up glow sticks and bracelets. Food trucks sold hot chocolate. Council on Aging buses carried hundreds of guests back and forth from the parking lots at Landrum Middle School. The Ponte Vedra Recorder described all of this in its report on that year's Palm Valley Boat Parade.
Ponte Vedra Beach is not a city. It has no city government, no city hall, no city tree and no city Christmas parade. Most of its holiday season is hosted by someone: a cultural center, a resort, a library, a concert hall, a farm in Palm Valley. The biggest free event open to everyone happens on the Intracoastal Waterway, and for most of its history there was almost nowhere public to watch it from. The space under the bridge is the closest thing Ponte Vedra Beach has to a town square in December, and it was only set up two seasons ago.
The parade's route is long. The Recorder says the decorated boats travel more than seven miles on the Intracoastal. According to the organizers, the boats start one mile south of the Palm Valley Bridge and head north to the last home in Marsh Landing.
Much of that shoreline is backyards. Director Beacham Still explained the problem in a Ponte Vedra Recorder interview before the 2025 parade:
"The limited amount of public space on the parade route has always been the primary constraint for wider participation."
Still told the Recorder that the parade has been held every year on Palm Valley's stretch of the Intracoastal since 1993, and that it started earlier as informal gatherings of neighbors in the 1980s. He also tied the parade to the canal itself, which he said was dug around 1908, when the area was called the Diego Plains. The event grew up as a neighborhood party seen from docks and lawns. Anyone without a waterfront view had to find a spot somewhere along the route.
The change came in 2024. Still called that year "a major milestone." After 31 years of producing the parade on its own, the volunteer team partnered with St. Johns County Parks & Recreation to add remote parking with shuttles, bleachers, more restrooms and safety lighting. The Recorder reported that the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners approved $5,000 that year to pay for the free shuttle, the lighting, extra portable restrooms, trash cans and other needs.
That spending turned the parade into a public event with a set place to watch it. Before 2024, the best view usually went to whoever owned a dock. Now anyone can watch from under the bridge.
The Palm Valley Community Association co-hosts the parade with the volunteer organizers. In 2024, Still told Florida NewsLine that the parade's mission is funding scholarships for Ponte Vedra and Nease high school students, and that it also supports Palm Valley Charities through the PVCA board.
Even with a public viewing site, the parade still depends on private waterfront. Homeowners take part through a dock competition that sits alongside the boat classes. The organizers' registration page groups 2026 entries this way:
| Entry class | Who it's for |
|---|---|
| Power boats over 30 feet | Larger lighted boats in the procession |
| Power boats under 30 feet | Smaller lighted boats in the procession |
| Sailboats | Lighted sailboats in the procession |
| Dock competition | Waterfront homes decorating their docks along the route |
Under the parade's rules, docks in the competition must register and post a number. Organizers and the boaters taking part judge the docks, and a prize goes to the top dock. So the boats judge the docks as they pass, and the crowd under the bridge watches the boats.
Away from the water, each event has a host, and each host sets its own terms. Here is what's on the calendar starting the day after this post publishes:
Most of these events take place at Sawgrass Village, the library, the resort, the Concert Hall or the farm. Five of them charge for a ticket or admission. Only the boat parade happens in a public space that was set up just for the occasion.
Still told the Recorder the parade is usually held on the first Saturday in December. This year that date also has two other big events. The St. Augustine Christmas Parade runs from 9 to 10:30 a.m. the same morning, with roads on its route closed starting at 8:15 a.m. The boats leave at 6 p.m., and Matteo Bocelli takes the stage at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall at 8 p.m. If you plan to catch the parade and then the concert, leave time to get from the bridge to the Concert Hall.
The organizers' viewing page describes the 2026 bridge party: free admission, bleachers on a first-come basis, food trucks, holiday music and kids' games. It also suggests arriving early. The bridge carries County Road 210 near Roscoe Boulevard. In 2025, shuttles ran from Landrum Middle School from 5 to 7:45 p.m., and parking at the bridge was reserved for guests with disabilities. Check the viewing page for this year's shuttle plan before you leave home. Bring a chair in case the bleachers fill.
If your dock faces the route, the registration page is open for 2026, and the dock competition is one of the entry classes.
Many of our clients first get to know Ponte Vedra Beach through events like this one, like a night under a bridge on CR 210 or a Sunday at a market in Sawgrass Village. If you're wondering how your own home in Ponte Vedra Beach or Palm Valley compares this season, Market Makers Group can give you a clear, local answer. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll walk you through what the numbers say.
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