What makes a community feel like home?
Sometimes, it’s as simple as walking into a local business and being greeted like you were just there yesterday. It’s recognizing familiar faces at the grocery store, showing up to community events and knowing there will always be someone there to say hello.
For Carol, those little connections are exactly what make Horizon West special.
A local business owner, travel planner and Horizon West Happenings ambassador, Carol has made getting involved a priority since almost the moment she arrived. And in the six years since moving to Horizon West, the community she once hoped to become part of has become something much bigger.
It has become family.
Finding Home in Horizon West
Carol moved to Horizon West from Queens, New York, about six years ago with her husband and two sons.
The move actually began with Disney.
Before COVID, one of Carol’s sons was accepted into the Disney College Program. Her family began looking at homes in Central Florida with plans to eventually relocate alongside him.
Then they found Hamlin.
“We found the perfect location right here in Hamlin, and we loved it, so we came.”
Coming from New York, Carol immediately noticed something different about her new home: the sense of connection.
For her, community means belonging. It’s neighbors saying hello, familiar faces around town and the simple feeling that people genuinely know one another.
“You walk into Publix, you walk in anywhere, everybody’s saying hello,” Carol said. “You recognize everybody. So that’s important to me.”
That small-town feeling is something she hopes Horizon West never loses, even as the area continues to grow.
“I know we’re growing a lot, and that’s fantastic, but I hope it keeps that small-town feel.”
Finding Her Place in the Community
Getting involved has always come naturally to Carol.
Back in New York, she participated in her sons’ school activities and PTA, was involved with the Rosary Society and watched her husband run the basketball program at their church.
But moving somewhere new with older children presented a different challenge.
Without school activities creating those built-in opportunities to meet people, Carol knew she would have to find another way to connect.
She didn’t wait long.
Just days before officially moving into her Waterleigh home, Carol attended a neighborhood fall festival where Stephanie and Tara from Horizon West Happenings had a booth.
She walked right up.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’m a travel agent. I want to get involved. I want to meet people. I want to get into the community. How do I do that?’”
Her next sentence sums it up pretty well:
“And the rest is history.”
Showing Up for Horizon West
Today, Carol experiences Horizon West Happenings from two unique perspectives.
She is both a local business owner and member through Magical Vacation Planner by Carol and an ambassador who helps connect other businesses and residents with the community.
For Carol, the two roles have become naturally intertwined.
As a business owner, she has experienced firsthand the support that can come from being connected to the local community. As an ambassador, she gets to offer that same connection to others.
“I enjoy being with the other businesses and showing them what Horizon West Happenings does and what the Happenings team can do for them.”
But ask Carol what she enjoys most about being an ambassador, and her answer is a little less serious.
“We have laughs. They make me do crazy things, and I love doing it. They know I’m up for anything.”
From Horizon West Fest to Labor Fest and countless community events in between, Carol loves being out meeting residents, connecting with business owners and simply being around people.
That involvement has given her something she was missing after her children grew out of school activities: a new way to form friendships.
“This brought me out into the community to meet all the different people and make new connections and friendships.”
Turning a Love of Travel Into a Business
Carol’s path to becoming a travel planner is almost as unexpected as her path to Horizon West Happenings.
In 2017, her husband was facing a layoff and began looking for something new. After years of family trips to Disney, travel planning seemed like a natural fit, and he interviewed with Magical Vacation Planner.
There was just one problem.
An upcoming company conference was being held at Disneyland, and he couldn’t attend.
Carol could.
So, in order to attend the conference in his place, she became a Magical Vacation Planner herself.
“That’s how I became a Magical Vacation Planner,” she said.
What started somewhat unexpectedly quickly became something she genuinely loved.
Today, Carol enjoys being part of the entire travel-planning process, from those first conversations and early research to the moment her clients finally leave for their trip.
But her favorite part comes afterward.
“I love to see their idea turn into an amazing vacation,” Carol said. “I love hearing the story behind the trip.”
Sometimes it’s simply a much-needed getaway. Other times, it’s a birthday, an engagement or another milestone a family will remember for years.
For Carol, those stories are what make the work meaningful.
Why Local Matters
That same focus on relationships shapes the way Carol thinks about small businesses.
To her, supporting local isn’t simply about where someone chooses to spend money. It’s about preserving the personal relationships that make a community feel connected.
“Small local businesses… we are the heartbeat of the community.”
She sees it every day in her own business.
When someone calls Carol to plan a vacation, she doesn’t want the relationship to feel transactional.
“It’s not just a business to me. It’s a friendship,” she said. “You’re not just a number to me.”
It’s something she believes can be difficult to replicate with a larger company or an online booking platform.
“You could book your cruise online, but you’ll never be talking to the same person, and you’ll never have that connection with somebody when you do it with a small business owner.”
And that personal connection is exactly what she loves about Horizon West.
Come Say Hello
Carol’s advice for someone living in Horizon West who wants to feel more connected is fittingly simple:
“Come to an event.”
Walk up to the tent. Introduce yourself. Talk to someone.
It’s essentially the same thing Carol did six years ago.
“Whatever you want to do, you can do.”
That one decision to walk up to a booth and ask how she could get involved helped turn a brand-new community into a network of friends, familiar faces and relationships.
Today, you might find Carol on the golf course or driving range, at a Horizon West Happenings event or stopping into one of her favorite local spots, Homestate Brewing Co.
No matter how long it has been since her last visit, she says the team there greets her like she was in just the day before.
It’s a small detail, but maybe that’s the point.
Because when Carol was asked to finish one sentence, her answer captured exactly what those little moments have added up to.
“Horizon West feels like home because it’s a family.”
It’s not just a collection of neighborhoods or businesses. It’s seeing the same people around town. It’s knowing your local business owners. It’s showing up to an event and finding familiar faces waiting for you.
“A lot of us know each other, and we see each other all the time,” Carol said. “So it feels like home.”
And Carol’s story is proof that sometimes becoming part of a community starts with something as simple as walking up and saying hello.
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