{"id":279380,"date":"2026-05-21T12:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279380\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:04:11","slug":"the-2026-jacksonville-jazz-festival-returns-over-memorial-day-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279380\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 Jacksonville Jazz Festival returns over Memorial Day weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The 2026 Jacksonville Jazz Festival returns over Memorial Day weekend, from May 21 to May 24. This free event will feature a lineup of award-winning performers and bring music lovers from across the nation to Downtown Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

The festival will be held at Ford on Bay, located at 288 E Bay Street and Jazz in the Plaza at Riverfront Plaza.<\/p>\n

The Ford on Bay Stage will feature artists such as Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Ghost-Note, Andra Day, esperanza spalding, Sheila E. & the E-Train, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Kamasi Washington and Moonchild.<\/p>\n

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The brand-new Jazz in the Plaza stage, set in the heart of Riverfront Plaza, will host local jazz and R&B artists all weekend. This stage offers an all-ages atmosphere with additional food vendors on-site.<\/p>\n

The festival begins on Thursday, May 21, with the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition presented by Yamaha at The Florida Theatre. This event has been a musical spectacle for more than thirty years. The five finalists, selected by a blind panel of judges, are Quintin Harris, Max Holm, Ian McCune, Rowan Tucker-Meyer and Christian Valdes. The winner will perform at the festival on the Ford on Bay Stage.<\/p>\n

Graphic designer and illustrator Lindsey Overstreet designed the 2026 Jacksonville Jazz Festival Commemorative poster. Posters will be available for purchase both online and at the festival.<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Additional festivities include the Jazz Jam, presented by Hot 106.5<\/a>, on Saturday, May 23, from 9 p.m. to midnight at Riverfront Plaza.<\/p>\n

The Jazz Clinic will take place on Sunday, May 24, at 1 p.m. at The Jessie, 40 E. Adams Street.<\/p>\n

The Jazz Parade is scheduled for Sunday, May 24, from 5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m., starting near the Ford on Bay Stage and ending at the Jazz in the Plaza stage.<\/p>\n

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Several road closures will be in effect for the festival until Monday morning:<\/p>\n

Market Street<\/p>\n

From Bay St. to Courthouse Dr.- From Forsyth St. to Bay St.Liberty Street<\/p>\n

From Bay St. south of the Riverwalk (limited access, local traffic only)<\/p>\n

Bay Street<\/p>\n

From Newnan St. to Liberty St.- From Hogan St. to Newnan St.<\/p>\n

Laura Street<\/p>\n

From Bay St. to Independent Dr.<\/p>\n

All general parking information and the parking map are available on www.jacksonvillejazzfest.com\/faq<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the event schedule, visit the Jacksonville Jazz Festival\u2019s website, jacksonvillejazzfest.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Action News Jax is a proud sponsor of this event.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Jacksonville Jazz Festival returns over Memorial Day weekend, from May 21 to May 24. This free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9000,761,116,118,23857,117,13869,115350,16629],"class_list":["post-279380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-downtown-jacksonville","tag-free-action-news-jax","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-jazz-festival","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jazz","tag-memorial-day-weekend","tag-riverfront-plaza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}