VOLUME 1 ISSUE 24
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DECEMBER 11 - DECEMBER 17, 2020
Not just for horses
The sun sets as people gather for a VIP sneak peek of the new World Equestrian Center in Ocala on Wednesday, Dec. 9. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
The majestic World Equestrian Center bristles with fine dining, family-friendly entertainment, sports venues and space for major conventions By Lisa McGinnes Ocala Gazette
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on’t let the name fool you. Although the new World Equestrian Center was created to be the largest horse show complex in the country, WEC is much more than a haven for horses and their owners. The Roberts family, perhaps best known locally for their Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club, have now created a luxurious but laid back event and entertainment complex with multiple dining establishments, flexible meeting and convention space, expansive grounds and entertainment programming designed to make
this world-class equine facility a regular destination for locals as well. “We want to be everybody’s place,” said Roby Roberts. “It’s just spread out to be so many different things throughout the year, so there’s some sporting events in some of the flex building. There’s just so many different things that we have, you almost have to look at the schedule. It’s so broad. I think we’re more than a horse show facility; I think we’re like a city that’s going to host so many different things.” The sprawling complex features the 8,000-seat Hunterland Stadium, which could eventually host concerts, graduations or other large events, as well as four climatecontrolled indoor arenas and
22 outdoor rings designed for equine events. There are also five exposition centers or “flex buildings,” each offering 132,300 square feet of indoor space that can be used for sporting events like volleyball or basketball, conventions, trade shows, car shows, dog and other animal shows or party rentals. As you enter the complex through the gate, the impeccable landscaping, featuring flowering plants and lush greenery, creates a welcoming first impression. But it’s when you pass from the parking lot, between the arenas and into the main plaza that the view becomes truly stunning. This is the sight you’ve seen on billboards: the stately, five-story Equestrian Hotel See WEC, page 4
VIP viewing area in one of the arenas.
A hand up, not a hand out, for homeless Ocala Mayor Guinn investigating comprehensive approach to breaking up homeless logjam in downtown area By Ainslie Lee Ocala Gazette
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“They look at me sometimes like, ‘Oh, you’re just a mean, you know, uncaring, you know, person to say something like that or do something like that.’,” Guinn says of his effort to get the homeless off city street corners. “I mean, I literally watch people die from things like that ... We want to do something.” [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
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t’s Tuesday, Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn’s birthday, and the mayor can be found this day in his second-floor office in City Hall. One of his desks is cluttered with books, stationery and other paperwork. The other is organized with photos and plaques encircling his computer. But instead of spending his day indulging in birthday cake, he spends it as he would any other Tuesday in City Hall. Part of that routine means pulling up a live camera feed from the corner of Northwest Third Street and Northwest First Avenue on his desktop.
From this vantage point several blocks away, he watches Ocala’s poor and homeless in real time meander around the popular corner. “We don’t have a problem, obviously, with people (coming) to eat and leave,” Guinn said. “But they can’t set up shop here and just take over the street and pass out in the street, you know, selling drugs in the street ... prostituting themselves. That’s like ground zero for a lot of criminal activity that goes on.” Guinn has pressed hard for solutions to this problem in his near-decade tenure as Ocala’s mayor. Since 2011, Guinn and the revolving door of Ocala’s councilmembers have thrown See Shelter, page 11
Inside: A Sneak Peek at WEC............ 2 Santa at Paddock Mall.......... 3 Opioid Program Working..... 3 Dunnellon Football................. 12 Trinity Scholarships............... 13 Calendar................................... 15