The new Riverfront Music Garden features walkways shaped like musical notes, plus a large clef-shaped central Riverwalk section. | City of Jacksonville
Published on May 13, 2026 at 3:47 pm
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Southern soul musician JJ Grey walked along a winding path in Jacksonville’s new Riverfront Music Garden on Wednesday, as the music park and a rebuilt Northbank Riverwalk were unveiled.
Grey & Mofro are one of 30 influential bands, along with Jacksonville musicians and composers, whose names are inscribed on brass discs in the park’s new Walk of Fame.
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Grey had not seen his disc, installed in a shaded walkway next to the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts — until now. He called the brass Walk of Fame plaque “surreal.”
“This river inspired so many songs of mine, honestly,” said Grey, with 10 albums dating back to 2001, including This River. “I was thinking about it earlier when (City Council member Jimmy Peluso) was talking about this river and how much it’s part of this park. Just to be part of it is awesome.”
Earlier Wednesday, Mayor Donna Deegan stood in a performance lawn at the music park and listed just a few of the musicians honored there, like Gray, “the wail of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s guitar,” and “the swagger of” 69 Boyz.
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“They all came from here in Jacksonville — how proud are we?,” Deegan asked. “The riverfront music garden honors that legacy with performance space, gathering areas and with a feature I believe will become one of the most beloved landmarks in our city. We are already seeing tens of thousand of people coming down here to visit our riverfront parks. Now it’s just going to be super-sized — our very own walk of fame.”
All along the riverfront
The Music Garden is at 300 Water St., at the rear of the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts, facing what city officials call a “revitalized” Riverwalk and the St. Johns River.
The garden’s main feature is a huge clef-shaped symbol built into a big Riverwalk section flanked by floating docks.
In the park, walkways shaped like musical notes lead to interactive areas, one with drums, another with speakers that play selections of local music when people step on colorful plates. There are also multiple racks of rotating mirrors, each with names of local musicians.
A little boy plays with one of multiple racks of rotating mirrors, each with names of local musicians or lyrics. The display is part of the new Riverfront Music Garden. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
The renovated Riverwalk also includes restoration of the walkway that goes over the railroad bridge and under the Acosta Bridge nest to the new One Riverside development on Riverside Avenue. Under the Acosta Bridge is where Corkscrew Park, with its exercise equipment, has also been renovated.
Then a new pedestrian walkway crosses over the now-open end of McCoys Creek, whose channel was reconstructed from May Street to the St. Johns River. The area is soon to be part of Groundwork Jacksonville’s Emerald Trail, a 30-mile urban trail network that will connect 14 historic communities to Downtown Jacksonville and the St. Johns River by 2031. Four are right along the Northbank Riverwalk.
“One of them is a half a block that way at Hogan Street, plus Hogans Creek, McCoys Creek and RAM” — the Riverside Arts Market, said Kay Ehas, CEO of Groundwork Jacksonville. “All of these are important to the success of the Emerald Trail, and I want to congratulate the city because progress is really being made as we can see.”
“This project is one of those catalytic developments that this city will remember forever” said Peluso, whose district includes the Northbank Riverwalk, music park and McCoys Creek. “This riverwalk is free and open to all and any. It will be a tourist attraction — this park and the parks on the river are going to be places people will use for the next 100 years.”
With Wednesday’s grand opening, the Riverwalk is now accessible from RAM to the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront on East Coastline Drive.
Music park construction
Work on the music park began in mid-2024 as the city also shut down parts of the Northbank Riverwalk along Downtown and into Riverside for redesign.
The garden is adjacent to the first phase of Riverfront Plaza on the site of the former Jacksonville Landing on Independent Drive, which opened last fall. The plaza includes a realigned part of Independent Drive, a more flood-resistant riverfront bulkhead, children’s playground and a café with rooftop garden.
The plaza’s second phase has been designed, focusing on the eastern side, with a pedestrian ramp from the Main Street bridge and a beer garden beneath it. Proposed designs were to be shown Wednesday night at a town hall.
The Walk of Fame’s list of artists includes .38 Special, Blind Blake, Charlie “Hoss” Singleton, Frederick Delius, Jahaan Sweet and Longineu Parsons II. The Downtown Investment Authority worked with local historians, musicians, authors and industry professionals to guide the selection of those whose names are in the new park.
“I never even thought about it like that … how much these bands have contributed to music worldwide from Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special to the Tedeschi Trucks Band and 95 South,” Grey said. “All these people have been involved in music all over the world, and I never ever thought about it. I am glad they did this park to illustrate what has come out of here all those years.”
