Today is the last warm one: patchy fog early, then sunny, 84 on the island and 88 across the river. A cold front crosses tonight, and the weekend behind it is the first that feels like fall. Saturday is 73 everywhere, island and mainland alike, under a north wind of 15 to 25 with gusts the Weather Service says could reach 35 to 40 on the coast, enough for a wind advisory if it holds. A few light showers are possible near the ocean; inland stays dry. Saturday night drops to 60 on the island and the low 50s in Callahan and Hilliard, so bring a layer to the concert. Sunday is 69 and windier still. The hazard this weekend is the water rather than the sky: very rough surf, a high rip current risk, gale watches offshore, and minor tidal flooding possible around the high tides along the coast and the Intracoastal from Saturday into midweek. Walk beside the ocean, do not go in it. No advisory was in effect at 7:30 this morning; check the forecast page before Saturday. The week ahead stays in the low 70s, with the wind easing by Wednesday.

If you have been waiting for a weekend that actually feels like a corn maze, this is it. Conner's farm on County Road 121 west of Hilliard runs its fall festival every Saturday from 9 in the morning until 9 at night, and Friday evenings 5 to 9, and Saturday's 73 with a cool night behind it is the first time this season you will not sweat your way through the maze. The farm's own list runs to pig races, duck races, a corn cannon at three shots for $2, a corn pool, wagon rides, a dirt hill with slides, a petting barn and a pumpkin patch, with food trucks on site. Admission is $22.95 for anyone 2 and up, free for active military and veterans with a photo ID, and $20.95 at the gate for seniors, teachers, first responders and health care workers. It is closed Sundays, so Saturday is the day, and the west side of the county finally gets the weather it was promised.

📍 19856 County Road 121, Hilliard • Saturdays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays 5 to 9 p.m., closed Sundays and Mondays • $22.95 ages 2 and up; connerscornmaze.com

The Ocean Highway and Port Authority spent Wednesday night on the truck study the north end has been asking for since 2021, and passed on both of its expensive answers. Consultant Martha Moore said the streets have plenty of room, about 3,300 vehicles a day on Eighth Street and 700 on Dade, both far under capacity; the trouble is that since the Escambia Street bridge came out in 2024, a truck turned away at the gate has no clean way back to the route. Her fix, opening a block of the Calhoun Street barrier so trucks could loop back to Dade through North Third, drew a no from Commissioner Miriam Hill and from Third Street residents Bob Virtue, who pointed to St. Michael Academy's drop-off line, and Tammi Kosack, who called it "a much bigger problem than we're trying to solve." A six-truck staging lot on mill land near Eighth and Escambia fared no better, and Chairman Ray Nelson suggested the port's own CTS yard as paid truck parking instead. What the room agreed on was $13,000 to $15,000 in new signs and fixing the map pin that sends Google and Waze drivers to a warehouse instead of the gate. No votes were taken.

Fernandina Beach's parks study, cut from a $185,000 two-phase plan to a $98,750 Kimley-Horn contract in July, reached its public stage this week: an online survey is open on the city's Parks and Recreation site, focus groups on youth sports and on events meet virtually Oct. 22, and a community workshop is set for Nov. 9, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Parks Director Scott Mikelson told the advisory committee Tuesday that the city keeps more than 50 beach accesses on about five miles of shoreline, more than 30 of them walkovers, and wants one standing rule for which get "very beautiful ADA accesses" and which become "cattle trails," instead of arguing one walkover at a time every budget cycle. The bigger question is whether to keep both the Atlantic and Martin Luther King Jr. rec centers and their pools or build one combined center, possibly on golf course land, an idea Commissioner Tim Poynter has floated; nothing is decided, and committee members warned against forgetting that the golf course is finally paying its own way. Committee member Peter Kasiski had the question for everyone filling out the survey: "What are you willing to pay for?"

The National Park Service is taking public comment on the Bosque Bello Cemetery nomination through Friday, Oct. 23, Action News Jax reported Monday, the first visible movement since the state review board forwarded the file on Aug. 12 and the first time the public has had a direct line to the decision. Comments go by email to National_Register_Submissions@nps.gov with the subject line "Public Comment on Bosque Bello Cemetery, Nassau County, Florida - SG100013578." The city is lining up behind it: the Historic District Council takes up letters of support at its Oct. 22 meeting, and the same morning the Technical Review Committee reviews a site plan for a new columbarium at the cemetery on North 14th Street, which the city dates to 1798. Listing would make all 34 acres eligible for preservation and restoration money.

The city is asking which beach walkovers to rebuild and which could become a plain sand path. Which access is yours, by number or by street, and would you trade the boardwalk for a path if it meant the money went further? Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.

The city is about to decide which beach walkovers to keep. How many public beach accesses does Fernandina Beach maintain, along how much shoreline, and how many of them are walkovers?

Answer: More than 50 accesses along about five miles of city beach, and more than 30 of them are walkovers, according to Parks and Recreation Director Scott Mikelson at Tuesday's advisory committee meeting. The consultant's job is to say which ones need a boardwalk and which could be a sand path.

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