St. Johns County Celebrates Renovation of North Beach Park with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

• 14 January 2026
• Category: SJC News Parks and Recreation
• Tags: 2026

$2.1 million project completely redesigned the park

On January 9, 2026, St. Johns County celebrated the total overhaul of North Beach Park (3721 Coastal Highway, St. Augustine) with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Office of Public Affairs produced a video to commemorate the event.

District 5 Commissioner and Board of County Commissioners Vice Chair Ann Taylor attended the ceremony, along with various St. Johns County administrators and staff and several area locals.

“The Board of County Commissioners is supportive of all the park projects, large and small, across our community,” said Commissioner Taylor. “Our Parks and Rec Department continues to build a better community for everyone, and this park is a great example of their efforts.

The renovation added a new restroom building, a new changing area, a new playground with a shade cover, expanded and improved parking (20 more spaces) with a new one-way wraparound layout, and an upgraded walking trail around an open green space that was preserved at the rear of the park.

“The project here at North Beach Park was initiated with staff vision to add beach parking and make for a better user experience,” said Ryan Kane, Director of St. Johns County Parks and Recreation. “In the process, we met with the community, from the Vilano Main Street group, the Vilano CRA… we matched that vision of what we were looking for here at the park to what the community’s needs and wants and desires were for the park.”

The park is now also home to a chain-link fence panel within a heart-shaped frame, where people who cross the pedestrian bridge over State Road A1A can leave padlocks symbolizing their relationships. The tradition of locking the padlocks onto either side of the bridge was popular for a long time, but the added weight posed a safety hazard, as locks could fall onto vehicles traveling underneath. The new heart wall allows St. Johns County to support the tradition in a responsible way.

As the sign by the wall reads: “Keep the bridge light, keep love tight – our heart is waiting. Lock it right!”

“One of the six priorities in our Strategic Plan is called ‘Community Well-Being,’ and it’s parks like this that really do support the community,” Commissioner Taylor said. “It’s beyond what I even hoped it would be—I’m so grateful to our Parks and Rec team.”