The Riverside Arts Market (RAM) is located at 729 Riverside Ave. and is a weekly arts-and-crafts market featuring live music, food, art, and fresh produce. It first opened to the public on April 4, 2009 and currently opens every Saturday 10AM-3PM ET rain or shine, year-round. The marketplace includes a 350-person amphitheater known as Northbank Riverwalk Artists’ Square and forms the terminus for the Northbank Riverwalk. It is located underneath the Fuller Warren Bridge alongside the St. Johns River.
In the ’90s, it became clear that the Florida Department of Transportation was going to need to build a replacement for the existing Fuller Warren Bridge. The bridge had been built in the mid-’50s and was becoming increasingly worn down due to heavy daily traffic. FDOT began drafting plans for a new bridge to replace the old one. As part of those plans, a portion of riverfront property next to Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens would have become a chained-off retention pond to accommodate the project.
That’s when local history advocate and Riverside Avondale Preservation co-founder Wayne Wood sensed an opportunity. Inspired by Portland Farmers Market in Oregon, Wood led RAP’s efforts to lobby FDOT to allow for an open-air market along the river. Their efforts were successful, with the new Fuller Warren Bridge opening in the early 2000s utilizing land further north for a retention pond instead of the riverfront site. The city then extended the existing Northbank Riverwalk out toward the property, setting the stage for the market’s development. The effort of many created a notably successful public-private partnership, along with numerous other sponsors that made this Park a reality.
