Riverside Arts Market (RAM)
The Riverside Arts Market (RAM) is an arts-and-crafts market in Jacksonville, Florida that has food, live music, art, and fresh produce once per week. The arts market officially opened in March of 2008 and has since been open every Saturday between the months of April and December from 10:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon, whether it is beautiful and sunny or pouring down rain. The marketplace also includes an amphitheater called the Northbank Riverwalk Artists’ Square and forms the terminus for the Northbank Riverwalk.
The Riverside Arts Market is located under the Fuller Warren Bridge and attracts about 4,000 people every Saturday. The amphitheater features hours of live music and seats 350 people. RAM also participates in a program called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) where recipients have the opportunity to purchase local produce between 10 am and 3 pm and double their dollars with incentive programs through Florida Organic Growers’. If you’re looking to get your morning started before 10 am, the Riverside Arts Market also features a bike ride with ZenCog beginning near Black Knight Financial, and Morning Yoga on the river stage at 9 am.
You can arrive at the Riverside Arts Market in pretty much anyway, including car, boat, by foot, or on a bicycle. In 2010, the American Planning Association reported Riverside-Avondale to be one of the country’s best neighborhoods. Walkscore.com gives the area a score of 70, so a great way to spend the day is taking time to explore the Riverside Arts Market and the surrounding area the way the Jacksonville locals do. One of the nearby attractions includes The Cummer Museum, which has one of the most beautiful art collections in the southeast and features almost 5,000 objects and about 2.5 acres of historic gardens along the river. A few blocks down is where you’ll find 5 Points, a lovely shopping district with a plethora of restaurants and boutiques. Further down is Memorial Park, a 5.85-acre park on the St. Johns River that is the third oldest park in the city and was built to honor the 1,200 Floridians that died serving during World War I.
The area was initially planned to be a retention pond surrounded by a chain link fence. However, a 15-year effort led by the founder of the Riverside Avondale Preservation, Wayne Wood, resulted in the now popular weekend marketplace. Wood wanted to capture the aesthetic of the riverfront setting and create a public space for people to utilize and enjoy. Landscape architect Melody Bishop created the landscaping, pathways, and lighting. On days that the market isn’t operating, the area is used as Black Knight Financial parking lot, and the amphitheater is used as a public park.
The Riverside Arts Market has gotten some great recognition over the years and has received the Best of Jacksonville Award for Best Farmers’ Market from Folio Weekly six times now. The Riverside Arts Market has also been noted in multiple publications including USA Today and The Financial Times of London.