Ocala Main Street’s Heart of the Park scheduled to open July 4

Side view of the former American Legion building [Ocala Gazette Nov. 29, 2023]

The revitalization of Tuscawilla Park is underway, with the Heart of the Park scheduled to open with a bang this July.

Heart of the Park, an upcoming community hub that is transforming the former American Legion building at Tuscawilla Park, is scheduled for a soft opening for sponsors and stakeholders on July 4.

Ocala Main Street is in talks with the city of Ocala to bring back a Fourth of July fireworks show to bring the community together and celebrate Heart of the Park’s initial opening, said OMS Executive Director Jessica Fieldhouse.

“We’re excited to be able to open up the Heart of the Park for that event,” Fieldhouse said. “I think it’s really appropriate, it’s such a community-oriented event so to have a community hub open for that was really poetic for us.”

The renovations to the existing building are in Phase I of the project, which includes replacing and moving the HVAC units and redoing the building’s electrical system.

The project recently received a sizeable donation from the Miller Family, who donated $50,000 toward the revitalization efforts. Steven Miller was born and raised in Ocala, then attended Princeton University and the University of Virginia before working in New York for about a decade.

He and his wife, Katie, returned to Ocala to raise their three children.

“Plans include a corner store and expansive deck, satellite museum exhibit center in partnership with local museums and organizations, daily programming focused on wellness and community, and enhanced connectivity throughout the park,” according to OMS.

The city of Ocala put on a drone show for the Fourth of July in 2024 and contracted the same company, Sky Elements, to put on shows in 2025 and 2026. The city canceled the contract for the drone shows after one of the company’s shows in Orlando went awry, injuring a young boy.

OMS plans to contract John Casse’s Skylighters of Florida for the fireworks show this coming July at Tuscawilla.