A Year in Review: What happened in Ormond Beach in 2021?

2022 is almost upon us, but before we embark on a new year, let's take a look back at some of the pivotal local moments of 2021.

By Jarleene Almenas
| 10:00 a.m. December 31, 2021

Jan. 13: 88-year-old Shirley Mariasy, a resident of Ormond in the Pines, receives the Pfizer vaccine, administered by a CVS pharmacist. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Jan. 17: Kevin Berg, Molly Wiegand, Jeannie Berg and Jeanette McCarthy take part in the first Bash on the Boulevard event, benefitting Ormond Beach MainStreet. Photo by Michele Meyers

Jan. 25: Charlotte Carroll reassures Aiden before she rides at Kings View Farm, a horse riding stable whose expansion was approved by the City Commission. Photo by Michele Meyers

Feb. 6: Becky Parker, of Ormond Beach MainStreet adds her personal touch to the art wall at the seventh-annual Granada Grand Festival of the Arts. Photo by Michele Meyers

Feb. 18: A team of tradesmen, put together by Glenn Canfield, owner of GC Contractor Services, help restore a local 1910 home. Courtesy photo

March 5: K-9 units from Central Florida attend a news conference in Daytona Beach in support of a legislation seeking to allow paramedics to transport and provide emergency care to injured K-9s. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

March 12: Sgt. John Dovine celebrate a kickball run at Riverbend Academy's Back the Blue event. Photo by Michele Meyers

April 12: Judith Bennett, of Port Orange, volunteers every week at the Halifax Humane Society. Lilly doesn't mind. Photo by Brian McMillan

April 16: Charlene Greer, an Ormond Beach resident and 2020 winner of the NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, at the Daytona International Speedway ahead of Jeep Beach 2021. Photo by Brian McMillan

April 24: Greggor Hines speeds back to the dock during the Early Learning Coalition's eighth-annual Duck Race at the Tomoka Outpost. Photo by Michele Meyers

May 6: Kaneshia Stokes tears up when School Board Member Carl Persis and Volusia County Schools Superintendent Scott Fritz present her with a $2,000 check for saving a coworker's life. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

May 14: Ormond Beach Police Officer Chelsey Palmer takes part in Volusia and Flagler Counties' annual fallen law enforcement officer memorial. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

May 24: Tomoka Elementary School teacher Lucy Lorden and her fifth grade class with their "The ABC's of a COVID Classroom" book. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

June 4: Seabreeze High School celebrates its commencement at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers

June 19: Aiden Zaza, 8, with the first fish of the day during the city's Reel in the Fun kids fishing tournament. Photo by Jake Montgomery

June 29: Ormond Beach Garden Club member Rebecca Caschette lends a helping hand to Paige as she transplants her plant during Enviro Camp, where campers learned how to repurpose shoes into planters. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

July 4: The Independence Day fireworks light up the sky at Rockefeller Gardens in Ormond Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers

July 12: Odyssey adventure campers Rocco Olivari, Aiden O'Brien and Brayden Dodsen jump off the dock during water games at Sanchez Park. Photo by Michele Meyers

July 21: Jimmy Hull aboard his commercial fishing boat the Wrok-a-Hull-ic, days away from celebrating his restaurant Hull's Seafood's 40th anniversary. Photo by Michele Meyers

Aug. 2: Beachside Elementary Principal Lynn Bruner, Daytona Tortugas' Shelldon, School Board Chair Linda Cuthbert and other community partners break ground for the new school. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Aug. 12: Surfari Surf Camp Instructor Aydin Every encourages his students William Ethan Sybert and Amiya Titova-Chiaravalle to stand up on their boards. Photos by Michele Meyers

Sept. 11: Ormond Beach firefighters Mark Allen, Kristi Brown and Mikayla Laks participate in the first Ormond Beach 9/11 Memorial Walk over the Granada Bridge. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Sept. 11: Joe Kowalcheck helps his daughter Genevieve Kowalcheck toss the caber during the 10th-annual Celtic Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers

Sept. 25: Guillermo Lopez del Castillo of Coastal Breed jams out during the third-annual Ormond Beach Live original music and art festival. Photo by Jake Montgomery

Oct. 1: Wolf scout Bailey Washington solemnly places the U.S. stars of the flag into the fire during a flag retirement ceremony. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Oct. 8: Homecoming King Mac Chiumento and Queen Kyla Anderson. Photo by Michele Meyers

Oct. 23: Avery Randolph, of the Ormond Beach Police Athletic League, sports a Bugs Bunny mask during the city's Halloween Highway event. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Nov. 20: Ericka Hall and Trinity Jones with Seashore Seafood serve the crowd at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers

Nov. 26: Rita and Brad Krause, of Ormond Beach, ride in their 1927 Ford Model T Touring in the 63rd-annual Gaslight Parade in Ormond Beach.

Dec. 11: Universal Towing's decorated vehicle wins 1st place at the 30th-annual Home for the Holidays parade. Photo by Michele Meyers

Dec. 16: Kids play in the "snow" in front of the crowd at the Holidays at the Casements celebration. Photo by Michele Meyers

Ormond Beach Observer
News

January

Jan. 7: New Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower is sworn into office. Council members Danny Robins, Heather Post and Billie Wheeler were also sworn in.
Jan. 12: The Volusia County School Board approves a base teacher salary increase to $44,335.
Jan. 19: Volusia County is slated to receive $16.7 million in federal aid to help residents struggling with rent payments due to the pandemic.
Jan. 22: The Ormond Memorial Art Museum breaks ground for its $3.5 million renovation and expansion.
Jan. 26: The city of Ormond Beach pleads with the School Board to keep Osceola Elementary open instead of merging it with Ortona Elementary, and relocating students to a new school at that site.

February

Feb. 1: Volusia County Schools Superintendent Scott Fritz returns to work after a seven-month medical leave.
Feb. 9: Though the city of Ormond Beach vowed to commit up to $1.8 million to save Osceola Elementary from closing, the School Board holds fast to its decision to build a new merged school at the Ortona Elementary site.
Feb. 15: Petition to keep the River Bend Golf Club property open, after its operator filed for bankruptcy, floats around the community.
Feb. 16: Short-term rental owners plead with the county for a change in its vacation rental ordinance.
Feb. 22: Grassroots movement to preserve the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail and support the county's purchase of a 36-acre parcel within Plantation Oaks raises over $5,000.

March

March 3: The Volusia County Council decides to wait and see what happens at the legislative level before considering revising its existing vacation rental ordinance.
March 10: Dangerous by Design report released by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition finds the Deltona-Daytona-Ormond Beach metro area as the fifth most dangerous in the U.S.
March 16: Though the City Commission expressed support for the county purchasing a 36-acre lot within Plantation Oak for conservation, the commissioners were not in favor of putting forth a city match for funds.
March 18: Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is injured while riding his bicycle after he was struck by a car, whose driver fled the scene.
March 22: The Fighting Against Injustice Toward Harmony nonprofit coalition of religious congregations holds annual action assembly, where members push for civil citation data transparency for juveniles in Volusia County. Elected officials also swear to advocate and create a $7 million housing trust fund for affordable housing before the end of the year.

April

April 2: The Jewish Federation of Flagler and Volusia Counties' Jerry Doliner Food Bank hosts first Easter food giveaway.
April 13: Volusia County Schools begins considering making masks optional for the upcoming school year.
April 20: Ormond Beach MainStreet asks city to pause all demolition plans for the former Ormond Beach Union Church building for six months to allow the organization to find a way to preserve the building. Also, the Volusia County Council votes to purchase a 36-acre parcel of land in Plantation Oaks for conservation.
April 23: Developers close on the purchase of the Tomoka Oaks Golf Course for $2.6 million.
April 27: Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower highlights need to work together to improve the county at his first state of the county address.

May

May 4: The Ormond Beach City Commission doubles down on its decision by way of a 3-2 vote to demolish the former Ormond Beach Union Church structure at 56 N. Beach St. and construct a temporary shell parking lot in its place for $125,579.
May 8: First African American Community Celebration is held at the South Ormond Neighborhood Center.
May 15: Halifax River Yacht Club celebrates its 125th anniversary.
May 18: The Volusia County Council votes 5-2 against amending its short-term rental ordinance. The county continues to require a minimum of 30-day stays for single-family homes and condos in county residential zones.
May 20: First community meeting to discuss the development of the Tomoka Oaks Golf Course held at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center.

June

June 1: Though residents begin to voice opposition for extending the airport's runway by 400 feet to the west, the Ormond Beach City Commission unanimously approves a new $45,000 environmental assessment to move the project forward.
June 3: Ortona Elementary's time capsule unearthed ahead of its merger with Osceola Elementary.
June 15: Citizen email campaign attempts to delay the demolition of the former Ormond Beach Union Church building.
June 22: The Volusia County Council votes to keep existing ban of dogs on the beach. Dogs are only allowed at Smyrna Dunes Park and Lighthouse Point Park.
June 26: Othal Wallace, the 29-year-old suspect who shot Daytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor on June 23, is arrested in Georgia. Raynor died at Halifax Health on Aug. 17, two months after he was injured.

July

July 13: A special City Commission meeting is held to discuss the fate of the former Ormond Beach Union Church building. After 100 emails, 25 speakers from the public and pleas from two commissioners, the commission voted 3-2 to hold fast on its decision to raze the building and build a temporary parking lot.
July 15: Second community meeting discuss the development of the Tomoka Oaks Golf Course reveals developer plans to build about 300 homes.
July 25: The Museum of Arts and Sciences celebrates its 50th anniversary with a 1970s-themed bash.
July 26: Adventhealth's COVID-19 hospitalizations surpass 800 across Central Florida in new surge.
July 27: Demolition of the former Ormond Beach Union Church begins.

August

Aug. 2: Groundbreaking ceremony held for the new Beachside Elementary School, which will house the combined student and staff populations of Osceola and Ortona Elementary.
Aug. 10: With the first day of school less than a week away, Volusia County Schools deals with a shortage of 82 teachers.
Aug. 19: Gov. Ron DeSantis visits Ormond Beach to announce the opening of a monoclonal antibody therapy treatment site for COVID-19 at the Ormond Beach Senior Center.
Aug. 28: Longtime local radio host Marc Bernier dies from COVID-19 after a three-week battle with the virus. He was 65.
Aug. 31: The Volusia County School Board votes 3-2 to implement a mask mandate in light of the climbing COVID-19 cases in schools. As the board members reached their decision, the protest and anti-mask chants could be heard inside the chamber.

September

Sept. 8: The Ormond Beach City Commission approves a 4.7% property tax rate hike.
Sept. 10: Gloria Max, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Flagler and Volusia Counties, dies after a six-year battle with a cancer, leaving behind a selfless legacy of generosity. She was days away from her 81st birthday.
Sept. 14: The Volusia County School Board backtracks on mask mandate for students and adds an opt-out option.
Sept. 21: After two hours of the public pleading with the Volusia County Council to go to rollback, the council votes 3-2 to pass a 3.4% property tax rate increase.
Sept. 28: Classroom vacancies continue to plague Volusia County Schools as principals pivot non-classroom instructional employees back into the classroom and the district works to retain employees in a year where resignations and leaves of absences are up by 35% as compared to 2020.

October

Oct. 2: About 200 people march on the Granada Bridge in Ormond Beach to rally for the right to abortions ahead of the reconvening of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Oct. 11: The Mary McLeod Bethune marble statue is unveiled during a ceremony at the News-Journal Center. The statue will replace a 1922 bronze statue of Confederate Army General Edmund Kirby Smith in the U.S. Capitol.
Oct. 12: Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington delivers the 2021 State of the City address, saying that Ormond Beach is "thriving."
Oct. 26: The Volusia County School Board votes 4-1 to approve raising the hourly wage of its substitutes to $13.50 amidst a teacher shortage.
Oct. 28: The Volusia County School Board and the Volusia County Council decide to adopt different redistricting maps.

November

Nov. 4: The Ormond Beach Historical Society holds an opening reception for its Ormond Beach Union Church exhibition, where the contents of the two time capsules retrieved from the church building were unveiled
Nov. 11: The Ormond Beach Observer transitions from tabloid to broadsheet format, and the bigger pages mean more room for local content in our weekly publication.
Nov. 16: The Ormond Beach City Commission approves a new public art program for murals in the downtown overlay district with a 4-1 vote.
Nov. 23: The Jewish Federation of Flagler and Volusia County distribute 260 turkeys to local families in need before Thanksgiving, fulfilling their vow to the late Gloria Max to keep her mission going.
Nov. 26: The 63rd-annual Gaslight Parade rolls into Ormond Beach, returning after it was canceled last year due to COVID-19.

December

Dec. 4: The Ormond Beach Police Department holds its 5th-annual Shop with a Cop event.
Dec. 7: The Ormond Beach City Commission holds workshop to discuss new zone boundaries for redistricting process.
Dec. 9: The Museum of Arts and Sciences celebrates the dedication of its planetarium, now named the Lowell and Nancy Lohman Planetarium.
Dec. 10: Twelve artists face off at the first Art Battle live tournament at Frame of Mind.
Dec. 18: Wreaths Across America events pay tribute to fallen heroes in ceremonies in various cemeteries around town.