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Moving to Jacksonville? 5 Things I Love About Living in Jacksonville, FL + FREE ANNUAL EVENT LIST

Posted By: Sarah Schwartz

FREE NORTHEAST, FLORIDA ANNUAL EVENT LIST HERE: https://bit.ly/3GNzymT

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Are you thinking about moving to the sunshine state? Well, stick around! I'm going to tell you my top 5 reasons I love living in Jacksonville, Florida. I've done a lot of research putting this video together, so if you could go ahead and Subscribe to my YouTube channel, I would greatly appreciate it! 

Hi, I'm Sarah Schwartz, a local realtor in Jacksonville, Florida and I'm going to tell you my top 5 reasons I love living here. Let's get started! 

Reason number five, location, location, location. We're a short drive from more destinations than you could visit if you went somewhere every weekend for an entire year! From big cities to giant state parks. If you want to get away for a day or weekend, this is the place to live! As far as cities goes, Savannah, GA is only two and a half hours north. All you have to do is go right up 95 and you're basically there. Want to go on a horse drawn carriage ride? A haunted ghost tour? Walk down River St. and go to all the candy stores and the different bars that are there? Go for the day, go for the weekend, it's so easy to get there, there's no reason not to go. Did you know that St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US? Well guess what, it's only an hour south to Jacksonville. You could go there and check out the Wax Museum, Ripley's Believe It or Not, go to the old Fort, just do some history tours. While you're there, make sure you check out the fountain of youth, so you can stay looking young forever. St. George Street is also a personal favorite. It's a mile walk where there's restaurants and boutiques on either side of you. Sometimes I like to just go down there for dinner and drinks or maybe stay over night at an old bed and breakfast. Over six million people visit the small town of St. Augustine every single year! It's basically a tourist attraction but also a really fun place to go. Speaking of old historic cities, Charleston is only a four hour drive away. If you go south about two and a half hours, you're going to get to Orlando, Florida. You have so many options of places to go there. Whether you want to go to Universal Studios, go to a waterpark, go to Sea World or my personal favorite, you can stop by and see my friends Mickey and Minnie. One really cool thing about the new waterpark there, Volcano Bay, you can basically go up to a ride, scan your wristband and then it'll tell you when it's your turn. So you don't have to wait! Are you a Nascar fan? Because the Daytona 500 is an hour and a half south. They've also moved one of the greatest concert weekends there, Welcome to Rockville. It used to be in Jacksonville, Florida, but it was moved to Daytona to accommodate the huge crowd that loves to go. Guilty! On these hot summer days, I don't know about you, but I love a good local spring. We have Rainbow Springs, Juniper, Ichetucknee and Ginnie Springs. Take a float, take your friends, go down to the springs, hang out for a few hours. Maybe bring your camping gear, stay for the weekend. Just make sure to call or check online first to make sure that they're open. One really cool spring that we have nearby is the Devil's Den. Ooooo Spooky. You'll walk down to the platform in the middle of the cave, but don't worry, there's a hole so you'll have some natural light. I've heard that the waters really warm and that they offer scuba diving lessons if you're into that kinda thing.  I've never been, but it's on my bucket list.

Reason number four, outdoor activities. If you're into outdoor activities, the water access here is amazing! Jacksonville has twenty miles of oceanfront paradise. And that doesn't include Amelia Island. From Neptune Beach to Jacksonville Beach to Ponte Vedra, there's plenty of sand for you to kick off your shoes, put down your towel and soak up some sun. One of my favorite beaches is in South Ponte Vedra, Mickler's or Mickler's, the name is still up for debate, that one is well known for shark's teeth washing ashore. Then we have the inter-coastal which runs all the way from Jacksonville to Miami. We have a massive creek system, several inlets and a few lakes! The St. Johns River is the largest north flowing river in the whole country! With all of the water everywhere, you have so many opportunities to go paddle boarding, surfing, fishing, boating, boater skip day. The opportunities are endless. Let's talk about the park system. It's already cool enough that we have so much water here but did you know that Jacksonville has the largest urban park system in the United States? It's kind of crazy to think about but it's four times the size of the island of Manhattan. We have eighty thousand acres of parks. This includes seven state parks and two national parks, a national preserve, four hundred city parks, gardens and an arboretum. Forty-six thousand acres of that is the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, which is also open for hunting. Our parks consist of baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, playgrounds and we're bringing back pickle-ball. In fact, they just built a pickle-ball court down the street from my house at the park. Let me tell you, I have never seen so many cars there! So whether you're looking to take your kids out or get in an activity for yourself, Jacksonville's the place to be. We have something for everyone.

Reason number three. Food. We have so many restaurants here, I mean seriously it is impossible to name all of them. Plus we have new ones coming up all the time because Jacksonville keeps growing. From seafood to steak, pasta and everything in between. You want it, we've got it. I don't want this video to go on forever, so I'm just going to tell you about some of my favorites. First, let's start with food trucks. Who doesn't love a good food truck? They're all over town. We have hundreds of them. They're unique, they're delicious and if you're lucky they'll be traveling in a pack. Sometimes neighborhoods have different food trucks featured each week. How convenient is that!? If you work downtown, you're going to find a street with food trucks just lined up on the side. Talk about options! If you go to one of the local events, whether it's at the beach or downtown, you're also going to see a variety of food trucks so make sure you go hungry. Sometimes the food trucks are the attraction! Some of my favorites are The Happy Grilled Cheese, I mean who doesn't love grilled cheese? The Butt-Hutt Smokehouse, Mother Truckin Pizza or the Nitrogen Creamery for dessert. To say there's a food truck culture in Jacksonville, Florida is a bit of an understatement. Do you like dining outside? We have about ten rooftop and bar options for you to choose from. Don't get me wrong, some views are definitely better than others. My personal favorite is River and Post. They have a restaurant on the ground floor and then nine stories up they have a rooftop bar with amazing views of the city. You can see downtown, San Marco, Riverside and you have a great view of the St. Johns River. A few miles from there you can grab a burrito at Burrito Gallery's rooftop patio. Or grab a drink at the top of Jacksonville's newest steakhouse, Cowford Chophouse. Located right in the middle of downtown Jacksonville. You might be wondering where that name came from. Well, fun fact! In the 1800's Jacksonville used to be called Cowford. If you're close to the beach, one of my favorite bars to go to is at Casa Marina. That's not only because I got married there, but it's because they have the best vantage point of the whole entire beach. If you're headed to a Jacksonville Jaguars game or a Jumbo Shrimp, there's a pretty cool rooftop bar by the stadium called Intuition Ale Works. They brew their own craft brew on site. And yes, our minor league baseball team is called the Jumbo Shrimp, I know. And last but not least, we've had quite a few restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives! Metro Diner, which started as a small local restaurant, now has over fifty locations! Ever heard of chicken and waffles? Well they're pretty known for it. The batter is homemade, the chicken is deep fried and then it's put on a really nice size waffle with strawberry butter on top. On the side, they give you syrup with a little bit of hot sauce in it. Vuala, it's a masterpiece! Talk about the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. If you're looking for some old world Spain flavors and some amazing wine, then 13 Gypsies is where you need to go. It's a quaint little restaurant in Riverside with about seven tables inside and two outside, so you're going to want to make a reservation. Next up on the list is Fox Restaurant. If you like pancakes, this is the place to go! Located on the main drag in a historic part of Jacksonville called Avondale, you're not going to want to miss this one. If you like seafood, then Singleton's is the place to go! They have the freshest seafood in all of Jacksonville and I mean they're in Mayport, so they have the best Mayport shrimp.

Reason number 2! Cost of living. I don't know about you, but I've lived in a lot of places and honestly the cost of living in Jacksonville is AMAZING! The median property tax in Jacksonville is lower than the national average. Even compared to South Florida, Central Florida or the Gulf, Jacksonville takes the cake for affordable living. It's almost like Jacksonville's best kept secret is affordable living, but the words getting out. This explains all of the development that we've had in the last few years. I mean the cities population has really started to explode. Plus, Florida has zero state income tax! Why wouldn't you want to live here!?

Reason number one. Annual and Local Events. We are so lucky to have so many events going on throughout Jacksonville and Northeast, Florida. Some people might say that there's nothing to do here, but I think otherwise. For starters, one of my favorite things is the Nights of Lights in St. Augustine. This event has been listed in the Top 10 Holiday Light Displays in National Geographic. The entire downtown area of St. Augustine is draped in over three million Christmas lights. It is quite the site to see! Are you a golf fan? If you are, you must be familiar with the island green. That's located here in Ponte Vedra at TPC Sawgrass. If you do decide to come here for that, make sure you plan ahead. Traffic is horrible! Every month, downtown Jacksonville hosts a themed outdoor event. If you're interested in seeing local artists showcasing their work, food trucks and live music, then you're going to want to go to downtown Jacksonville once a month when they host Artwalk. Another place where you can check out local artists work is the Riverside Arts Market. You can go there every Saturday morning, under the Fuller Warren Bridge. Jacksonville has both Naval Station Mayport and the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, which is located on the other side of the St.Johns River. With that being said, we have The Jacksonville Sea and Air show. Blue Angels, local pilots, fighter jets and Navy boats all flood to Jacksonville for this annual event. With an estimated 300,000 people coming every year, this is an event you definitely don't want to miss. Have you ever heard of the worlds largest cocktail party? Well you can go to it right here in Jacksonville, Florida. The Florida - Georgia football game is located in Jacksonville every single year and it sure is a weekend attraction. People from all over Florida and all over Georgia make their way here. If they don't have a hotel to stay in, we have a really great place called RV City, where you can bring your RV and set up camp for the weekend. It's a long weekend of rivalry, drinking, having fun and let me just tell you, if you're not a Gator - you're gator bait! Are you a fan of outdoor running? Jacksonville hosts so many 5k's 10k's, 15k's, half marathons and marathons all year every year. One that we are most famous for is the Gate River Run. Which is the largest 15k in the United States. For this run, you run all over downtown Jacksonville and the surrounding areas where people come outside, play music, throw water at you and just do whatever they can to make the run so much fun. I try to do it almost every year. We also have other runs throughout the year. Thanksgiving Turkey Trots, New Years Day runs and I mean, we have a Chocolate and Wine Run. Who doesn't want to do that!? It seems like there's always a run going on in Jacksonville. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Between these events, our sports teams, two amphitheaters, local music venues and let's not forget the holiday events, it's safe to say Jacksonville has quite a bit going on. 

These are my top five reasons why I love Jacksonville. And trust me, you will too!

If you want to learn more about local and annual events, click the link below for a full list. 

FREE NORTHEAST, FLORIDA ANNUAL EVENT LIST HERE: https://bit.ly/3GNzymT