MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – On the morning of Tuesday, June 16, 2026, professional horse trainer Brooke Bayley stood, a full nine months pregnant, and addressed the Marion County Board of County Commissioners on the subject of the commercial-level fireworks display set to go off less than 1,000 feet from her home, her business and the 14 horses stabled there.
“Marion County proudly calls itself the Horse Capital of the World,” she said. “This park is surrounded by homes, farms and agricultural operations, many of which are located within the Marion County Farmland Preservation Area. Hundreds of horses and livestock are within hearing distance and viewing distance of this display. Our own farm is home to 14 horses, including elderly horses and a pregnant mare. Relocating that number of horses is simply not realistic, and as far as I know the county has not offered any practical solutions to realistically accommodate the animals.”
The park in question is Citra’s Wrigley Fields, which was chosen as one of four sites to host massive fireworks displays on the Fourth of July as part of Marion Celebrates America 250, the county’s contribution to nationwide events marking the country’s semiquincentennial. The Marion Celebrates America 250 program was largely spearheaded by outgoing Board of County Commissioners Chair Carl Zalak, III, in whose district Wrigley Fields is located.
A week or so prior to the county commission meeting, Bayley had started a change.org petition to “respectfully ask that Marion County relocate, modify, or cancel the annual Fourth of July fireworks display proposed for Wrigley Fields due to its significant impacts on nearby residential and agricultural properties.” So far, the petition has collected more than 1,000 signatures, and Bayley has rallied multiple neighbors to her cause.
“I would say our farm is probably 50 yards away,” said Jennifer Carter, whose Five Ring Stable currently houses 25 horses, in an interview last week. “We have 3-day event horses and we have a few people who rent stalls with us and ride with us, we do training and sales.”
Carter, whose husband rode for the U.S. equestrian team in the 2008 Olympics in China, knows a little about equine behavior, and how “spooky” the animals can be. A very heavy, very frightened and very expensive animal can potentially do a lot of damage–to itself or anything else around–when startled or scared.
“Horses are flight or fight, and their flight instinct definitely kicks in with loud noises,” she said. “They usually go out at night, but we’re going to keep them all in, but they still can get panicked and worked up about it.”
Like many in the neighborhood, one of Carter’s main issues concerns the fact that none of the business owners in the area were given a chance to lend their input before the decision was made.
“We simply got the letter saying it was happening,” she said. “There was no mention of any, if we had concerns, a way to let them know. It was basically just planned and here it is, just prepare.”
“There’s obviously plenty of people who can agree and disagree that this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, this is America 250, [that’s] the reason why we’re doing these things, and so… And that’s why we sent out the notice,” said Zalak at last week’s meeting, following Bayley’s public comments. “We didn’t have to. We sent it out as a courtesy to try to let people know to the best of our ability that we wanted to celebrate this.”
Some of the other commissioners were less dismissive of Bayley’s concerns.
“I’ve talked to staff to see what we can do, and if we can move them to a little safer place, I’m happy to support that, but otherwise I am also just as amenable to say that we should not do the fireworks up in [that] section of the county,” said Michelle Stone, whose District 5 abuts Zalak’s. “There’s three other places in Marion County if people want to go out to the fireworks, but I do believe that it is a legitimate concern.”
“We’re not going to cancel this right before the event,” Zalak responded.
Matt McClain, who represents District 3, floated the possibility of taking a week to find an alternate site.
Some slightly contentious commenting between the commissioners continued until, after Assistant County Administrator Amanda Tart was asked about financial risk (all of the money for the events is reportedly coming from sponsorships), Zalak called an end to the discussion.
“A lot of people were getting mad, but getting mad doesn’t do anything,” said Bayley in a later interview about her decision to start the petition. “I wanted to take it from a reasonable perspective and actually demonstrate how many people are upset about this in a logical way.”
Reps for the Marion County Board of County Commissioners did not respond to emails requesting a statement, comment or update on the status of the planned fireworks at Wrigley Fields.