OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Tourist Development Council unanimously recommended approving a campaign communications and strategic media agreement for the Marion County America 250 Commemoration Initiative, spearheaded by social media influencer and artist E.J. Nieves, by an 8-0 vote, at their meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. The item will go before the Marion County Board of County Commissioners on March 17, 2026.

The request for the agreement was for $52,000.

Nieves, an Ocala resident, has a significant social media presence across multiple platforms and a large following, promoting Ocala in a positive nature, sometimes in humorous way, but always in a tasteful manner.

Marion County Commission Chair Carl Zalak, III, made a brief presentation and introduced Nieves, who provided the council members with an in-depth look at who he is, what he’s done and what he can do as the nation’s semiquincentennial is rapidly approaching, with a slideshow.

Nieves has been an Ocala resident for six years. The three-time Ocala Artist of the Year loves God and the United States of America, is a Marion County-centric influencer and is passionate about Ocala and all of the municipalities in Marion County.

“I’m an uplifter of local businesses and community champions and beyond,” said Nieves, who says he’s a progressive thinker who looks forward, but honors the past. “Every person in this room has a story… Some people like to share their story online; some people are private. Some people share their story with their kids and build a legacy. Some people are open in forums like this to help things move along for an entire county.”

Compelling narratives within the community

The social media influencer and artist believes so many people’s stories fail to get told, particularly those that are passionate about what they desire to do.

“Me, I absolutely love digital storytelling,” said Nieves, who posts about 20 times a day on social media. “It can be a slew of things, posts, sharing the story of a coffeehouse, telling people what the best things are around town or something humorous. All the posts are different. When I say storytelling, it’s like how all of these lives digitally connect to each other.”

If the stories are told–and Nieves intends to tell a lot of them–America 250 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It excites him, that there’s the possibility to be able to tell stories of Marion County’s veterans, teachers, and of as many people as he can.

“We try our best to do as much as we can in our life, even within our families, being a dad, a husband, a mom, it comes to a point where the bandwidth naturally ends, and you need support,” he said. “I want to be that support for the county because this is literally what I do, eat, breathe and sleep social media. That’s just how I’m wired. It started nearly 20 years ago when Instagram first came on the scene, and I’ve been obsessed ever since… I obsess over the psychology of social media because there is a psychology.”

Nieves is being asked to lock arms with the county to inspire residents to make Liberty Live Here: Marion County America 250 the biggest event they’ve ever seen, he said.

“We have family members that don’t live here, we want them here with us,” said Nieves. “It will be the greatest event Marion County has ever seen. We’re going to do this through the lens of many community champions, educators, first responders, to the oldest Marion County citizen to the babies being born in Marion County hospitals, and everybody in between, and we’re going to tell those stories online. We’re going to put the camera in front of everybody and anybody that will allow me to. I’ll be diligent to get as many of those stories as possible to be able to collectively share the heart of this county.”

Historical archive 

Through his time in Marion County, Nieves has met a lot of amazing people, and would like to create a digital artifact, whether it’s an America 250 page and Ocala/Marion County page, for future generations.

“Imagine an artifact that we create digitally that 20 years from now, 30, 40, 50 years from now, our great grandchildren can say, ‘look at Dad. Look at Mom,'” said Nieves. “What’s our story, it’s the story of our nation of course. It’s the story of our county specifically, and then all the way down to the citizens. All three elements will come together to create a collection of digital artifacts that will be enjoyed for years to come.”

When the time capsule is created, it could have an influence beyond storytelling–it will have a positive economic impact, increase hotel stays, increase traffic for food and beverage countywide and increase traffic to Marion County destinations and attractions, providing a county morale boost and grand opportunities for community collaboration.

Nieves also showed a montage of some of the reels that he made to the council. Nieves partnered with realtor Steven Billington and Drew the Mattress Guy to create a number of videos. When videos go “Ocala viral,” people get enthusiastic and excited.

“When we start building this spiderweb, this amazing collection of stories, people are going to want in,” said Nieves. “It’s going to open up chances for more revenue and more doors for opportunities for our kids when the next donations come.”

The social media influencer is a facilitator of that conversation on his personal page, as he’s excited for the future, but pays homage to the past, placing an emphasis on preservation.

“I’ve talked at large on my Facebook account about smart development,” said Nieves. “Ultimately, all of the storytelling will come together to benefit our county.”

By the numbers

In the last 90 days, Nieves has had 21,000 followers on Facebook; 10 million views; almost 900,000 in engagement, comments, conversations and like shares in the last 90 days. On Instagram, he has 29,400 followers, 2.3 million views, almost 400,000 in engagement; on TikTok, he’s at 1.6 million views and engagement of 124,000.

“When you start putting all those numbers together, you start seeing the staggering amount of engagement,” said Nieves. “A large percentage of that is Ocala-centric. What happens is that when you have numbers that large, we’re able to build strategies to position them wherever we want.”

Campaigns can be done daily, weekly and monthly, said Nieves. Plans would also call for a full-blown clothing line. There will also be Marion County America 250 artwork that would be available for purchase. Plans would also call for offering special packages for lodging, entertainment, etc. Nieves would be producing compelling narratives that would direct people to the Tourist Development Council Store.

Marion County has asked the Ocala Metro CEP to run the Marion County America 250 Ball, which has been proposed for the end of April. So far, $106,000 has been raised. The cost for all four firework shows–Ocala, Belleview, Dunnellon, the northeast quadrant–will be between $120,000 and $130,000, although the fireworks haven’t been paid for as of this time, said Zalak. A framework will be put together, if it’s approved for what items go out, what works and how the pieces go. Zalak, the Marion County America 250 chair, Nieves, the county’s PR team and the TDC would be working in concert, and should the agreement be approved by the Board of County Commissioners, they can begin producing compelling narratives at the Marion County Veterans Hall of Fame opening March 19, 2026.