We were there for Yankee Doodle Dandy, the America250 concert First Coast Opera and the EMMA Concert Association staged together at the Waterworks on July 2nd, kicking off Independence Day weekend a few days early. Soprano Lisa Lockhart, tenor Timothy McGowan, baritone Dirk Gavin McCoy, pianist Mark Dougherty, and singer-storyteller Chris Kastle led the crowd through early American music and patriotic favorites, and by the last song half the room was singing along in red, white, and blue. Free, packed, and warm - the kind of night St. Augustine does best. It closed with an old-fashioned ice cream social, courtesy of Whetstone Chocolates and The Hyppo. First Coast Opera has been bringing opera to this town for years; EMMA Concert Association has spent just as long keeping live classical music free and accessible here. Together, on a night like that, at a venue as historic as the Waterworks - it felt exactly right.

photos by Yvette Monell