Pops! Goes the Holidays

Ocala City Council introduced Ordinance 2027-1 on Oct. 6 to repeal the city's local business tax, known as the business tax receipt (BTR). The final vote is scheduled for Oct. 20. Staff also asked to refund businesses that already paid for 2026-27.

The 2026 OBS October Yearling Sale in Ocala ended Oct. 7 with 267 yearlings sold for $6,775,500. The average rose to $25,376 and the median to $17,000. A Girvin filly bred by Ocala's Glen Hill Farm topped the sale at $190,000.

Marion County voters will decide Nov. 3, 2026, whether the county may issue up to $140 million in bonds for parks, trails, clean water protection, farms and forests, repaid by a countywide property tax of no more than 0.35 mill. Here is the ballot language, the rules the commission attached and the county's project list.

The first Go and Gobble 5K runs Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026, at 8 a.m. on the grounds of the Florida Horse Park in Ocala. Registration is $40 through Nov. 21 and includes a long-sleeve shirt and finisher medal.

World Equestrian Center says The Shoppes Off 80th, an outdoor shopping district with 32 storefronts next to The Riding Academy Hotel, is expected to open later in 2026, with a wine shop, two Thoroughbreds boutiques and a second Mr. Pickles & Sailor Bear Toy Shoppe.

From Nov. 4 to Dec. 23, World Equestrian Center Ocala stacks four weeks of hunter/jumper shows, the Ocala Food & Wine Festival, the WEC Vaulting Premiere over Thanksgiving weekend and Winter Wonderland. Here are the dates, prices and what is free.