by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
Jamestown, Virginia celebrated its 400th anniversary this year. British settlers landed in Virginia in 1607, making it the first British colony in the US. 42 years prior to that, the Spanish settled in St. Augustine and made our region the first to be settled by any Europeans. Built largely by Minorcan slaves and certainly at the peril of many Native Americans, that history is a difficult one to be proud of, so rather then spending any more time or energy talking about the history of the Oldest City, EU decided to take a fresh look at St. Augustine to let you know what is going on there now.
In addition to an armada of new restaurants that have made some regional waves within the last five years, there are also new cigar bars, martini bars, pubs, live music venues, and plenty of new art galleries. This city will always be known for the quality staples there. From Cortesses Bistro, the Conch House and The Columbia to Creekside Dinery and Trade Winds, there are plenty of quality establishments that have proven their merit for many years. So instead of reiterating what you know, we want to introduce you to something fresh. From our St. Augustine pub crawl to our dining guide, the focus of this EU is what’s new.
This city, once known as a bastion for forty-plus ex-hippies, has evolved into something new in the past five years. Not at the expense of the old timers, but because those ex-hippies see an energy they are eager to harvest in the youth of today.
No one exemplifies this paradigm shift better than Ryan Dettra, the young owner of Café 11, the Vice President of the St. Johns Cultural Council, and the marketing director for the new St. Augustine Amphitheatre.
Café 11 is a restaurant and a music venue that has been attracting some of the best national musical acts throughout the last five years of business. The success of Café 11 as a music venue made Dettra a great fit for the Amphitheatre and the Cultural Council, because no one else in the St. Augustine area has been successful at consistently bringing national bands into town. The success of Café 11 as a restaurant has also proved Dettra’s business acumen, a valuable asset to the city council members and business owners of the community.
Dettra moved to St. Augustine to attend Flagler College in 1996. At 22, just two years after graduating, he opened Café 11. Since that time, St. Augustine has managed to cultivate a burgeoning music scene, a thriving young art culture, and a community that enjoys great live national acts. Earlier this year he brought the Austin, Texas instrumental rock band Explosions in the Sky to play the historic Alcazar Hotel.
“We had Cursive booked first, we got it okayed and everything, but then it went to their board of directors and they didn’t want to take any risks. You know, it’s a fragile building. So of course we understood and so we tried to book within their parameters.”
Dettra does not claim responsibility for cultivating St. Augustine’s newly visible youth scene and he doesn’t take credit for the cutting-edge businesses that coincidentally opened their doors just after Café 11, but he certainly celebrates the proliferation of the youth culture and the fabulous breath of fresh air it is bringing to this historic city. Regardless of his hesitance, his part in this new movement has not been overlooked.
“It’s a partnership. It builds awareness. It gets people in the community to come out and see that we have a really great museum in the area.”
So in another fantastic stride that continues Dettra’s pace toward improving St. Augustine, he was recently hired as the Marketing and Promotions Director of the new Amphitheatre.
“There wasn’t really anything for anyone under the age of forty to do, even though we have some pretty great colleges and a lot of great artists in town. It takes time and working with non-profits to show people that there are opportunities, ways that they can enjoy the art in town and take advantage of the opportunities that produces. It crosses over to business, leisure, tourism, all the different areas that improve the quality of life.”
If you’ve never been to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre for old performances of The Cross and the Sword, then you may not recognize the dramatic difference between the old amphitheatre, which held less than 2,000 people, and the new covered amphitheatre, which seats well over 4,000 people.
The new facility is scheduled to open at the beginning of September. They are planning a bi-weekly movie series (which will be free for patrons if some smart sponsors seize the opportunity) twelve to fourteen concerts per year, and festivals that cater to thousands.
When Tommy Bledsoe, the Operations Manager for the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, was reviewing resumes for the marketing and sales positions, he didn’t pick Dettra (27) and Jenai Masters (26) because of their youth.
“They went through a very competitive hiring process. They brought with them their experience, their skills, and they interviewed right along with people that had thirty years of experience in this business, and they got the job because they were the ones that could do it,” said Bledsoe.
“When the county first took this place over in 1999 they weren’t sure what they were going to do with it. It’s history with the town, The Cross and the Sword was such a big part of the community. It’s an activity that people either attended, worked in, were ushers or they did concessions. All of the local civic organizations, like the Rotary Club and the Kiwanis, just about every organization at some level, was involved in The Cross and the Sword. Besides that, the location is such an incredible asset. Being here on sixteen acres of maritime coastal hammock land next to the park was too precious to give away, so they said ‘Okay, what are we going to with it?’ And one of the problems was that there was nothing to do at night.”
The facility has taken five years to build and most of the stalling has been due to funding, but the structure is now complete and they are working on getting the sound and concession equipment installed so that they can open after the summer. The prematurely bad press they received from the events that took place in the facility before it was complete, such as the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival, is not an accurate representation of the capabilities of the Amphitheatre, since it is still not complete. When the Amphitheatre opens, Bledsoe, Masters and Dettra are certain that there is a good plan for parking, sound, and all of the other concerns people have about the facility.
The oldest European-settled city in the US is getting behind its youth, and Ryan Dettra is a great poster-child for this new movement, especially when standing in front of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. As reluctant as he was to stand in front of this impressive structure without Tommy Bledsoe and Jenai Masters posing by his side, he looks good in this position and he gives everyone hope in St. Augustine’s future. Best of all, he has no hubris. He is glad to not be alone at the helm, but rather joined by some of St. Augustine’s most inspirational leaders. Bledsoe and the peers of his and earlier generations see in Dettra and the Amphitheatre a hope for the future of their community.
“What do we have for our young people? What is available to them and what do they need? You wouldn’t want to build this facility for my generation. I’m a baby boomer. In twenty years I’m either gonna be in diapers or dead. Maybe I’ll be able to come to a performance, or maybe I’ll be up there performing in my diapers,” quipped Bledsoe, laughing along with his young new co-workers.
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