OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Well, we’d say it’s been a remarkable year in the 352, but isn’t every year a remarkable year here lately?

Looking back at 352Today’s most popular stories of 2025, we found some surprises. The articles that got people talking the most on social media–crime, traffic, coffee shops, fake kidnappings, Miles Teller–didn’t end up in our Top 10 (though we did weed out one breaking traffic news alert that slipped in there). What you read from us the most instead were the uniquely “352” stories, the narratives and histories that could’ve happened nowhere but here.

It says a lot about your love for your community, and we’re proud we were able to share them with you.

And so, without further ado, here are 352today.com’s most popular stories of 2025.

10. Defunct Ocala: How Glen Springs Slipped from Gainesville Icon to Hidden Ruin (Dec. 11)

Feature writer Ashley Brace’s popular “Defunct Ocala” series takes up nearly half of this year’s Top 10, including this look back at Gainesville’s long-gone natural swimming hole.

9. New-School Retail Space Paddock Market Begins Limited Operations at Paddock Mall in Ocala (Dec. 19)

This new spot in an old spot ended up in a couple of Top 10 stories.

8. What You Need to Know: Florida Ends Hurricane Tax Holidays, Replaces with Year-Round Exemptions on Some Items (June 26)

Hurricanes were big news this year following last year’s seasonal havoc, but the 352 (and the whole state) managed to not get hammered in 2025.

7. Defunct Ocala: Crystal River Mall Closed Chapter on 30-Year Retail Era (Oct. 28)

Another of Ashley’s hyperlocal histories, this one about the end of a generation of American retailer trends.

6. BREAKING: Body Found Near U.S. Route 27 (Nov. 5)

The only even slightly salacious story to break the Top 10, this tragic scoop was actually brought to us by North Central Florida Media Operations Manager Scott Chase, whose fiancée drove by the scene and became curious.

5. Top Six Places Coming to Ocala in 2025 (Aug. 28)

352Today intern and photographer Amber Battillo’s Top 10 entry piqued the interest of those who like to stay up on which businesses are coming to the area.

4. Paris Richardson Crowned Miss Florida 2025, Marking Historic Win for Gainesville (June 29)

The Top 10 story with a statewide angle came over the summer, when our own Miss Gainesville took the state pageant.

3. Defunct Ocala: Ocala Caverns, a Forgotten Underground Wonder (June 20)

Ashley’s third “Defunct” entry introduced tens of thousands of readers to a former attraction many never knew existed.

2. Defunct Ocala: Silver Springs, Florida’s Lost Jungle of Wonders (June 9)

And her fourth, final and most popular “Defunct” story for 2025 centered on–what else?–the history of Silver Springs as a tourist draw over the years in previous, long-gone incarnations.

1. Ocala Man Reopened Doors for Future Generations at Silver Springs (Dec. 27)

Our most popular story of the year was actually only posted a few days ago. It’s Ben Baugh’s inspiring story about Larry Johnson, who ended nearly a decade without a Black glass-bottom boat captain at Silver Springs.

See you next year!