Inaugural Community Table
Honoring the women who shape Saint Augustine's arts and culture — one year at a time.
The StoryOn a Friday afternoon in late March, Sevilla Street disappeared under a stretch of tables, and Saint Augustine did something it had never done before — sat down together for lunch.
The Inaugural Community Table, held March 27, 2026 from noon to 2:30 along Sevilla Street between Valencia and King, was a first-of-its-kind event brought to life through a partnership between the City of Saint Augustine, Flagler College, and the St Augustine Sister Cities Association. The $20 tickets sold out. All 295 seats filled. Another 400 people were on the waitlist.
The seed for the idea was planted in Avilés, Spain — Saint Augustine's sister city — where a celebration called El Bollo has been drawing the community into the streets since the late 1800s. Part spring festival, part Holy Week tradition, El Bollo centers on a massive outdoor meal stretching across more than four kilometers of tables, where thousands of locals bring food, pull up chairs, and simply spend the afternoon together. City Commissioner Cynthia Garris traveled to Avilés in 2025, witnessed it firsthand, and came home with a question: why not here?
The answer, it turned out, was yes. Flagler College catered the meal, Sister Cities volunteers served as table hosts and brought their own stories of Avilés to the conversation, and ZaZa Flamenca performed live — flamenco music drifting through a street that, for a couple of hours, felt less like a thoroughfare and more like a gathering place.
That's exactly what it was. And with 400 people still on the waitlist, Saint Augustine is already figuring out how to make the table longer next year.
Event photos by Yvette Monell