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But today, Marion County is again become a tourist destination, including one-day or weekend trips. People visit the World Equestrian Center, visit the many springs in the Ocala National Forest or hike trails on the Cross Florida Greenway.
The reason Marion is again experiencing a new heyday is also thanks to the heavily traveled I-75, which now boasts 100,000 daily vehicle trips through the area of State Road 200.
As the population begins to near 400,000, it is getting increasing difficult to get from the east side of I-75 to the west side without knowing a few ways around the traffic jams that often plague the SR 200 and County Road 484 exits.
Support for all small businesses and entrepreneurs
“It’s not just for Hispanics. I can’t stress that enough,” Sinisterra said. “We started with that focus because it was a very underserved part of the community, but we see that there are other parts of the community that are underserved as well.”
The original Hispanic Business Council existed in Marion County over 10 years ago. In creating the new HBC, Sinisterra and his co-founder, Esmirna Caraballo, kept the name for exposure and branding but expanded the mission and scope to all small business owners and entrepreneurs.
In addition to office space for the founders, a veteran-owned business and two minority-owned businesses, the 4,000-square-foot space at 2945 NE Third St., Suite 205, in Ocala includes a conference room, resource center and larger training room.