ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – When people think of Florida’s coast, Daytona Beach often takes center stage.
But just a few miles north, nestled along the Atlantic, lies Ormond Beach, a city filled with charm, history, and surprises. To uncover its best-kept secrets, we took a driving tour of Ormond Beach with the newly-elected mayor, Jason Leslie.
Stop #1: Rainbow Park — magic in the making
We got the idea of doing the driving tour from our viewers. Several of them wrote in with questions about the city – we figured the best way to answer those questions was to jump in a car with Mayor Leslie, make stops around the city, and talk about the things we see.
Our first question came from Charly Sems who asked: “The best place in Ormond Beach is ‘Rainbow Park.’ But it’s been closed from hurricane damage, and nobody can say when it’s going to reopen.
Charly we have an answer for you:
“We’re probably looking at [opening up the playground in] the next two to four weeks,” said Mayor Leslie. “It’s one of our biggest attractions, and families come from all over just to visit.”
Rainbow Park is part of the much bigger Nova Community Park (a complex that covers over 60 acres) that boasts baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, a skateboard park, outdoor pavilions, and a community center.
When we got to Rainbow Park, construction crews were busy repairing structures on the playground. While that area is still cordoned off, other parts (like the handball courts – of which there are four) remain open. Sidenote: one gentleman we saw was using a handball court to practice Jai alai. Jai alai!
“It’s one of our biggest attractions as far as playgrounds go,” added the mayor. “The kids love it, and people come from all around the area and even different parts of Florida just to come visit this park. So it’s really a nice gem to have.”
Rainbow Park, aka the Magic Forest Playground, is located at 440 N Nova Road.
Stop #2: Andy Romano Beachfront Park — the heart of the coast
Of course, no tour of Ormond Beach would be complete without a stop at the ocean. Andy Romano Beachfront Park, with its stunning views and accessible beachfront, is undergoing major renovations.
Ormond Beach’s most popular beach access facility is going to go under the knife in the next few months. Andy Romano Beachfront Park was damaged by summer storms in 2024 with fencing, beach access points, and part of the seawall partially destroyed.
The city applied for federal relief and received a grant from FEMA that covers 87.5% of the cost of rebuilding.
“So what’s going to happen is that the park is going to close,” Mayor Leslie told me as we walked through the beach parking lot. “We’re going to look to replace the playground…and then when we reopen, it will have the fixed seawall.”
One addition that won’t be popular with some visitors is a new $20 parking fee, applicable only to non-Volusia County residents.
Leslie says, “You have everything here you need. I mean, what’s the most important thing you want? Restrooms. Beach access. A snack bar is a bonus.”
“You could pay $20 to go park at a parking garage. There’s nothing there. You just park because you’re going to an event or whatever you’re doing. Here you got all these amenities for $20.”
Andy Romano Beachfront Park is located at 839 S Atlantic Avenue.
Stop #3: Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center — a stage set for greatness
Yes, Ormond Beach has its own Performing Arts Center (PAC) that has an interesting recent history. Last spring after a 7-year renovation, the facility was only open for a month before a fire closed it down again. It took another 9 months before it could re-open once again.
The newly renovated Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center is another hidden gem. Originally a church, this venue has transformed into a cultural hotspot, attracting renowned performers and local talent alike.
“Theater was a big part of my life,” the mayor told us. “I just want to make sure people can still enjoy it, the way I was able to enjoy it. And that’s why I like promoting it.”
“They did a beautiful job with this renovation,” said the mayor. “It’s very warm and very welcoming.”
And it’s not just theatre people can come to enjoy. The PAC currently has an exhibit of African-American art by husband and wife Richlin Burnett-Ryan and Weldon Ryan. The Dynamic Duo, Partners in Art runs from February 1st through March 11th in the PAC lobby.
The Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center is located at 399 N. US1.
Stop #3.5: Proposed Grupo México fuel farm
Here’s a question we got from Ginny Turner: “Ormond Beach residents are very concerned about the fuel terminals that Grupo México wants to build here. It is very dangerous to our town.”
On our way out to the airport and sports complex (see below), we passed by a Florida East Coast Railway railroad spur leading to land owned by Belvedere Terminals.
A little background here to tie all of this together: Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) owns railroad tracks up and down the east coast of Florida (used by both FEC freight and Brightline trains). In the summer of 2017, FEC was formally acquired by GMXT (GMéxico Transportes, S.A.B. de C.V.), a subsidiary of an international transportation company called Grupo México. Grupo México also owns a company called Belvedere Terminals. Belvedere is a fuel farm business founded in St. Petersburg in 2019 that transports, stores, and distributes various types of fuel.
In 2023, Belvedere Terminals announced it was investing $750 million to develop three fuel farm locations in the state: Jacksonville, Ft. Pierce, and… Ormond Beach. The reason (from their own press release): “[Florida] has no in-state production of oil and gas or its own gas pipeline” and because of this “the state is largely dependent on the long-distance trucking of fuel that is first delivered to Florida ports by ships.” Belvedere goes on to say that the state is also susceptible to fuel shortages during hurricane season when storms can cut off shipping and close ports.
With that now out of the way, we asked Mayor Leslie about Ginny’s question—was there any update on the fuel terminal?
“The application was started in December of 2023,” said Mayor Leslie. “And there’s been no movement on it, on the application, and that’s a little strange.”
Mayor Leslie speculated that there could be shadow meetings taking place between the state and the applicant in an effort to get the project relocated.
He reiterated, “But right now, there’s no movement.”
By the way, Ginny is not alone in opposing the fuel terminal construction; WKMG has covered this topic before with both residents (and the city) opposing Belvedere putting a 20 million gallon fuel farm in such close proximity to homes, businesses, and the city’s Municipal Airport.
Stop #4: Ormond Beach Sports Complex — a hidden powerhouse
This location wasn’t on our original list of things to see, but the mayor insisted we stop in and see it. Who am I to argue, and boy am I glad we made the side trip.
A short drive took us over to the Ormond Beach Sports Complex, an impressive facility featuring soccer fields, football fields, and state-of-the-art baseball diamonds.
It’s a lot… A LOT of greenery.
“On the weekends, this place is crawling with people,” noted Mayor Leslie. “It’s a huge revenue generator for the city, with numerous organizations renting out the fields.”
And huge it is. The sports complex has parking for about 500 vehicles. The mayor told us that decades ago, a professional soccer team from Europe used the facilities for practice while visiting the States. Mayor Leslie has his eye on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, offering up the facility as a team base camp for games played in Miami.
The sports complex, located at 700 Hull Road, has 25 different fields including:
- 8 full-sized soccer fields (and 2 smaller ones)
- 5 full-sized softball fields
- 4 full-sized baseball fields
- 4 T-ball fields
- 3 multi-purpose fields
- 1 full-sized football field
Stop #5: Ormond Beach Municipal Airport — a vision for the future
The Ormond Beach Municipal Airport also wasn’t on our list of places to check out, but Mayor Leslie really is very proud of the facility and has some ideas for its future.
Our final stop was Ormond Beach’s airport, where Mayor Leslie talked about how far the airport has come in the last few years and where he’d like to see development and growth.
“At one point there [were] planes here that were essentially abandoned,” he told me. After getting the old planes out and the facility cleaned up, the airport has taken on a new life with new hangars, a flight school, and a different business model.
“There [are] actually private jets parked inside those hangars, and they’re owned by individuals,” Mayor Leslie told us. Essentially, the airport has its own type of HOA community that maintains the property. Businesses and residents own the buildings but lease the land.
As for plans for the future, Mayor Leslie wants to redevelop the now-closed 172-acre Riverbend Golf Course that sits adjacent to the airport. His vision? A new nine-hole executive course, a civic center, and aviation-related business expansions.
“It would just be a place to have meetings and be able to gather and then, you know, maybe play nine holes,” he told me. “I think that would be really kind of a really cool addition to the city.”
The Ormond Beach Municipal Airport is located at 770 Airport Rd.
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