What with Independence Day falling on a Thursday this year, the less ambitious among us will no doubt use that as an excuse to honor the Fourth with a four-day weekend. Daily Record Staff Writer Sean McManus made a few phone calls to find out what those of us who will be working can expect to find open on Friday, July 5.
• If you’re interested in catching some art on your day off, the Cummer Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Don’t worry. There will be plenty of people recruiting high-paying jobs to the city that day. The Chamber of Commerce is working a full day.
• Business must be pretty good. The commercial real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis, in the First Union building, will be closed.
• The Symphony’s season is over for the summer and the staff won’t be in Friday. Check back in the fall.
• Considering the latest wave of corporate scandals, the law can never sleep. McGuire Woods is open. So is Holland & Knight. And Rogers Towers Bailey Jones & Gay. And just about every other firm.
• City Hall and the State Attorney’s office are also open.
• There are a lot of people on the First Coast. The United Way is working Friday.
• PRC Digital is still deciding.
• The Jacksonville Zoo will be open from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. They are expecting big crowds.
• The federal government needs to set an example. The offices of Housing and Urban Development will be open.
• They work hard enough. Jacksonville Community Council Inc. will be closed Friday.
• b.b.’s restaurant on the Southbank will be open, like always, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• If you need a drink after dinner, Local’s bar around the corner is open “all day and all night”
• The Wine Cellar next door has been closed for the past three weeks for “summer break.” They reopen on July 8.
• The same goes for Ed’s Spanish American on Bay Street. They just missed a week.
• Whiteway at Park and King is taking this week off.
• A Cut Above Hair Salon in Independent Square will have normal hours, 8:30 - 5:30.
• Barton Malow, the construction company building the new baseball park, will be staying on schedule. They are putting in a full day.
• The YMCA in the Bank of America building will have special holiday hours. They will be open from 6 a.m.-2 p.m. The Riverside Y is open like usual until 9 p.m.
• All banks are open Friday.
• The Duval County School Board doesn’t slack off in the summer. The receptionist said that “unfortunately” they will be open.
• Jimmy Batteh, the owner of the Bay Street Cafe, said that they will be celebrating the Fourth of July with two things — the Fifth of July and Johnnie Walker Black. That means they’re closed.
• The Desert Riders will be open.
• The Zodiac Grill on Adams St. will be closed for breakfast but open for lunch.
• Coney Island Joe’s on the Southbank will be open from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Farah’s on Laura will have normal hours. So will the one on Bay Street.
• The entire Landing, including the food court, will also be open.
• St. John & Partners will be close that day.
• And if you want to check in on the Prime Osborn hotel project, The Clarkson Company is still deciding about working on Friday.