In January 2020, Spur joined more than 2,600 towns across the U.S. vying to be selected by HGTV for a Hometown Takeover project. You may remember when a huge crowd of us gathered under the big spur to make a video pitch to the cable network.
The nationwide competition was fierce, with more than 2,600 burgs proclaiming, “Pick me, pick me!” Wetumpka, Alabama, a town of 8,250 about a half hour north of Montgomery, was selected for the first HGTV Hometown Takeover. Ben and Erin Napier, stars of the HGTV series “Home Town,” spearheaded 12 major renovations all over Wetumpka, including restaurants, shops, historic homes, public spaces, a new farmers’ market—and an entire downtown street. (If you haven’t seen these shows, they can streamed at Discovery Plus.)
HGTV rolled out these small town revitalization projects throughout the 2021 season, and according to Southern Living, the Montgomery Advertiser, and Architectural Digest, Wetumpka has surged in tourist visitation and resident relocation.
In 2022, HGTV tried a different approach with its Hometown Takeover series and picked six towns with a couple of projects in each town. That didn’t seem to resonate with audiences as much as the revitalization of one town did. So for 2023, HGTV went back to the well of 2,600 entries and picked one town again: Fort Morgan, Colorado. This year’s Hometown Takeover debuted on April 23, 2023, and its last episode aired Sunday. You can watch it via streaming on Discovery Plus.
A town of 11,500 about 70 miles east of Denver, Fort Morgan received 18 different renovation projects across the town, including facelifts for public spaces, businesses and residences of individuals who devote a lot of themselves to the community.
The Texas Spur reached out to Fort Morgan’s mayor, Chamber of Commerce and newspaper in, Colorado, as a June vacation is in the works that will include a stopover in the town. City leaders have welcomed us to come visit and have generously offered to spend time showing us about their experience. We hope to learn many valuable lessons to help hometowns in and around Texas Spur Country. If you have questions you’d like us to the ask the folks in Fort Morgan, feel free to email us at spur@thetexasspur.com
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